Ina and Fade v 2
by Kelar The Mage
Summary: Ina and Fade, the reboot. Latest: A couple battles, makeouts, and the line "in bed" used seriously.
1. Poor Kids

Welcome to the reboot of _Ina and Fade_! Let the insanity begin!

This is ten pages when printed. XD Go me.

Characters I own: Ina, Mihi, the Sins, Slade, Lucky, Chaud, Gossamer, Jolie, Lindhal, Satan  
Characters owned by Maro: Fade, Koru

As in the original, characters that appear will also be owned by other people, such as Maro, Risa, littleraccoondemon (Sarah), and some will be owned/inspired by series such as Ben 10, Code Lyoko, etc. I start dealing with those in Chapter 3. I will list all owned by me, and all owned by others.

- Kelar the Mage

* * *

Chapter One  
Poor Kids Indeed

Ina cracked her knuckles idly as she waited in the center of Stone Circle. For the students of the Academy of Hell, Stone Circle was the illicit meeting place of rivals, roughs, and bored teenagers procrastinating homework. Sometimes teachers would deign to visit the old ruin to 'impart their wisdom' in the form of beating three or four students in a row. Weapons weren't allowed within the fighting circle, and the magic of some unknown demon in the long-distant past had restricted magic use to the most raw, uncultured form. For some, that proved a disadvantage, but for others, such as Ina, it was an advantage. She used lightning in the same casual way that a cat used their tail. It was as much a part of her as her distinctive pink eyes.

The few students at Stone Circle that day included Ina's closest friend and roommate, Mihi, who was primarily known for her clothing (or lack-thereof, as it rivaled the Mistress of Arms, Lust, for stares), and who never seemed as young as she said she was...but never as old, either. Another was Slade, primarily known by Ina in the form of Mihi's constant, bawdy jokes, and still another was the constantly mysterious Fade (also known as tall, dark, and weird), who would answer with 'everywhere' when asked where he was from, despite it being common knowledge that he was the prince of Lycanth. Though both were in the same Form as the two girls, they had been immediately dismissed by Ina and her circle of friends as jerks. There was also Pride, their all-too-angry teacher for fighting, weaponry, anything that had the potential to allow her to use students as anger management. She was unconscious because she'd been careless, and forgotten that metal is an absolute magnet for lightning. If she hadn't been careless, Ina half-suspected that her head might have been ripped off. Three older students haunted the edge of the Stone Circle, feigning boredom.

Ina glanced over at Mihi, then back around the area. "Oh for the love of!" she burst out. "Is anyone else going to bother fighting me? I'm _bored_."

"Oh quit whining," Mihi said, from where she was lazily sprawled across a cracked stone bench. "It's not like you actually like it that much."

Ina made a rude noise. "So? I need to do something."

"You're starting to sound like Pride," Mihi grumbled, letting her bare foot dangle along the dirt. "Too bad we don't have a sun down here," she said wistfully. "It's like whoever made this world didn't think of the need to tan."

"Need?" Ina demanded, scowling at Mihi. "I burn. I don't see any reason for a sun down here, thanks. It's not like we need one for light."

"I'm trying to do homework, you know," came the unfortunately deep voice of Fade. He might have been tall, but he was skinny as a pole, and thus, his voice constantly sounded awkward. It didn't help that he pretty much stuck to a monotone, either.

The two girls (and Slade) stared at him with some combination of wonder and amusement. Finally, Mihi broke down laughing, and rolled off her bench. Ina got her feet out of the way just in time, and ended up sitting hard nearby. "Homework?" Ina demanded, over Mihi's snorts. "Out here?"

Fade didn't look at her. "Why not?" he replied. His hands moved steadily, and every now and then, Ina caught sight of a tiny flash of white sparks, which she recognized as magic.

"Because it's a fighting arena..." Ina said slowly, wondering if Fade was oblivious, or an idiot. She dismissed idiot - his grades in _everything_ indicated otherwise, and then was forced to dismiss oblivious as well. He could never pass Wrath if he was oblivious.

"Which hardly anyone is using at the moment," Fade pointed out, glancing at her briefly. He glanced away immediately, and his hair flopped across his face.

"Only because it's the first day of the new term," Ina replied crossly. "Which is why I'm _bored_." She blinked, arrested by her thought process. "_Homework?_" she demanded, indignant. "You're not doing homework!"

"Observant, aren't we?" Fade retorted.

Ina's lip curled as she jumped to her feet.

Mihi stopped laughing and grabbed her impulsive friend by the ankle. "Ina, he's not challenging you for nutjob of the year, okay? Don't take jerks so personally!"

"I am _not_ the nutjob of the year, Mihi," the other girl snapped, scowling down at her. "Could you let go of me now?"

"As long as you don't go attacking anyone who isn't even trying to provoke you," Mihi drawled, slowly letting go.

"Maybe I was attempting to provoke her," Fade said, watching the scene with amusement evident on his face, despite the monotone.

Ina leaped at him, her figure lengthening as she moved. Pale fur sprouted along her body as she changed. She knocked Fade, who had a slightly gobsmacked look on his face now, to the ground from his bench (which was, oddly enough, well-polished). She snarled at him. Before she could do more than that, he had shifted as well - far quicker than she had - into a wolf shape as well, with far darker fur. The snarling was getting loud.

Mihi stared at the scene with some alarm, and Slade was sprinting into the distance already, but the three older students approached now. Two of them boasted extraordinary heights, the other boasted a set of pink, sparkly wings, and if he'd ever visited Earth, would have been mistaken as gay instantly.

"Okay, you two are just being idiots now," the female of the three said. Lucky Bianchi was not known for being nice, but was more likely to be recognized for the enormous braid that she frequently used as a whip. She was vaguely acquainted with Mihi and Ina, having been put in charge of the girl's dormitories for her last year at the Academy. "Do I need to throw you two into something?" Along with her braid, she boasted strength beyond the average for even a demon, which was truly amazing considering that she was fully human.

"Maybe I should deal with them," Koru said. He stood at seven feet, along with Lucky, and had, at some point during the past three years, been bitten by a werewolf.

"I'll handle it," the winged one said with as much dignity as he could muster. Chaud was openly envious of Koru's height and lack of pink wings. He made a bored gesture with one hand, along with a flip of one wing, and the still-snarling pair of werewolves were blasted apart.

Ina turned back first, her fur receding and hair flopping down with an interesting sound. She scowled at the three. "He wanted to fight me!"

Fade turned back as soon as she spoke. "Yeah, I did."

"You're not supposed to fight outside the center circle," Lucky said, using Koru's shoulders as a prop for her elbows. She didn't see his face turning red. (The two were the focus of a schoolwide betting pool, with the bet being on when they'd finally give into the UST. Currently, half the school had lost, and re-bet on a later date).

Ina scowled. "It's an illegal ring. I had no notion there was rules for it."

"Of course there are," Lucky said cheerfully. "That's the purpose of being illegal isn't it? Follow even stricter rules to avoid being caught."

"Lucky, you're crazy, aren't you?" Mihi mumbled. She was tactfully ignored. Slade returned to the area as mysteriously as he'd left.

"Supposedly, you can trigger the Apocalypse if you do the wrong thing here," Lucky said, trying to sound ominous. She just sounded ten seconds away from laughing like a nutcase. She beamed down at Chaud. "You can let the kiddos go now Chaud. Classes start in, oh, thirty minutes or so, and none of these guys seem to know what shoes are for." She removed her elbows from Koru and turned a cartwheel, long legs flashing up and over. Koru's face turned scarlet.

"Lucky, you're wearing a skirt," he said stiffly.

"Pfft. Does it really matter? Chaud has Jolie, I could kill Slade with one hand, Fade's obviously gay, and you're not a perv." She walked off whistling.

"I am _not_ gay," Fade growled. His monotone had finally broken! (For the first time in the years Ina had known him, too).

Koru shook his head. "It's impossible to argue with Lucky," he said. "Not that I don't try." He followed her.

Chaud muttered something and followed the taller duo.

Ina stalked over to Mihi, searching for something to put her hair up with, before giving up (in exactly twenty seconds) and swinging it across her shoulder. "I wonder where my hairthing went," she murmured.

"Who cares?" Mihi drawled, latching firmly onto Ina's arm. "Let's go, before you do anything else idiotic." She glared at where Fade was standing, watching them with deceptive calm, and flicked a hand. The teleportation spell took immediate effect, and the girls vanished.

Fade, left behind, continued to stare at the spot for a minute or so more. "Pretty," he finally murmured, and disappeared. The only one left in the Circle was Pride.

The room Ina and Mihi shared was split evenly down the center by a thick curtain. On the left, it was pink, brightly lit, and with an overabundance of lace. On the right, it was black and white, lit by small strips of metal, yet it also had an overabundance of lace.

Mihi could be heard on Ina's side, making a racket as she swore at her apparently absent shoes. Ina couldn't find hers either, and she swung the curtain open to reveal the pink side. "Mihi, try the staircase for the shoes."

"Why would they be there?" Mihi demanded, shoving a fluffy rug of pink-vomit aside. She tugged open a trap door and rocked back on her heels. "Why the bloody heaven are they here?" she demanded, flabbergasted.

"Don't know, don't care," Ina said, walking over to grab her boots from the third step of the old secret stairs. The girls didn't know why the stairs were there, but they seemed to be the only ones to know about it. At the very least, Lucky had never found it (and their large messes hidden inside) in her room inspections, and the previous women in charge of the dorm had never spotted it either. She grabbed Mihi's boots and tossed them at her, then shut the trap door and kicked the pink-vomit rug over it once more, and shoved through the curtain again.

She'd been wearing the uniform shirt and blazer, but had been wearing a pair of tight pants instead of the uniform strip of fabric that was occasionally called a skirt. Ina hastily threw that on, and then had to go hunting for socks. Her feet had grown again, so the boots were new, and she knew from experience that they'd give her awful blisters. No matter that she was half-demon, Ina was susceptible to just about everything humans were, and it was a topic she rarely dwelled upon. It made her angry, primarily because her human family had tried to hunt her, and her demon family - what little there was of it - had basically done the same, after her father died, with the exception of her batty grandfather.

Her socks were found, finally, in a pile with the rest of her things under her bed. Ina groaned when she discovered that, once again, her underwear was gone. She had no clue who was taking them, but it was really beginning to get on her nerves. Scooting out, she managed to get one sock on before standing up, and did a dance to get the other one on, before doing two more little dances to get her boots on, and then hurtled into the hallway. Mihi was roughly a foot ahead of her, still trying to get her left boot on, and swearing at it rather creatively. Ina was left with a dilemma: Allow Mihi to use her shoulder to balance on, or learn some new words (or new uses for old words). The second one seemed to be the best choice.

Mihi had her boot on by the time Ina (at her extremely slow, not-quite shuffling pace) reached her. "I _hate_ boots," she said, stomping her foot. The girls walked together towards first period, joining the throng of other girls, ranging in age from nervous five-year-olds to bored-looking twenty-two-year-olds.

Ina often thought it was good that most of the humanoid/elf-y species aged at the same rate until around twenty, because she was pretty sure that it would get extremely confusing for enrollment if they didn't. As they neared their first period class, Mathematics (insisted upon by the lunatic, Gluttony, who said they'd need it one day), they spotted Jolie hurrying towards them, bright flush on her face, and a blazer that looked a bit overly large on her hastily thrown on. "I overslept a bit in the library," she said, linking her arm through Mihi's cheerfully. The other two exchanged a glance and a snort. Jolie had been in the library as obviously as it was her blazer she wore.

"I don't get how you got a boyfriend before any of us turned fifteen," Mihi said, aggrieved for a moment. She snickered when Jolie's face flushed deeper red.

"Must be really interesting place, that library," Ina said dryly, steetching as she walked. "Jolie always comes out a bit rumpled. Do the books fight back?"

"Oh shut up, you two!" Jolie hissed, crimson now.

Mihi and Ina giggled at the other girl. "Better not mention how much you love the library to Goss," Ina teased. "You know how protective she is."

"Protective about what?" Gossamer asked, latching onto Ina from behind. She dangled limply off the taller girl's neck as Ina flailed.

"The library," Mihi said cheerfully, and burst out laughing at Gossamer's confused face. "Nevermind, nevermind," she snickered.

Ina detached Gossamer from her neck and straightened her blazer. "I am not a landing rack for fairies," she said, mock-serious.

The four lounged around the door, waiting for Gluttony to decide class should start. It was exclusive to the Fifth Form, a class comprised of fifteen and sixteen year-olds. Slowly, others from their form trickled to stand outside. Their Form was one of the smaller ones, being composed of approximately twenty-five people, instead of the usual thirty-five. The last of the group to arrive were Slade and Fade, complete with their uniquely sunny dispositions. Fade had his nose stuck in a book and a scowl on his face, while his roommate decided to start the schoolday by smacking Jolie's butt.

Jolie squealed and swung around, swinging Mihi with her, and made a threatening gesture at Slade. Immediately, his throat constricted. Veins bulged out and he writhed in pain. The lithe brunette's eyes shone red until she lowered her hand. Slade dropped to the ground, clutching his throat and coughing.

"An impressive display of magic, my dear," Ina said to the abrupt silence, "But perhaps a wee bit over the top, hmm?" Her impersonation of Gluttony's voice was eerily accurate. In her normal voice, she continued. "If you'd'a just punched him, we might be lucky enough to have him gone for the class."

Jolie giggled nervously at that. "Thank Wrath for teaching me that," she said quietly. "I didn't imagine it would work so well, though."

Gluttony twirled up, pink hair and green skirts spinning. She had no sense of what looked good, none at all. She came to a stop in front of the door, and it melted away. "Come on in, children," she said happily, skipping in. They followed, more or less in a horde, with Slade tailing the group doubled-over.

The students made their way to their assigned spots. Ina settled next to Jolie, flicking a hand at a folder on the desk, a motion soon imitated by the others. Folders soared across the room to their owners. It was one of the first lessons taught to young students, and perfected by daily use in class, since students were not allowed to leave their seats (except in Pride's class).

Gluttony began her lecture immediately, and under her high-pitched drone, Jolie and Ina talked.

"Any ideas about why Fade looks so grouchy today?" Jolie murmured.

"He didn't get a chance to have his ass handeed to him by me at Stone Circle," Ina replied. "He wanted me to attack him, apparently."

"Maybe he likes you," Jolie suggested, stifling a giggle.

"Why do you always think that he likes me? He's always baiting me," Ina hissed.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Jolie said smugly. "He _only_ baits you."

"He just hates me, the idiot," Ina said, rolling her eyes. She bit her lip as she scribbled at her notes.

"Do you like him?"

Ina jerked up, ramrod straight, and sent her pen flying. Before it could hit Fade, who sat in front of them, she jerked it back with a frantic hand motion. Gluttony didn't notice.

"You do!" Jolie exclaimed, just barely keeping her voice down.

Ina stared at her. "No," she said slowly. "I don't. Why are you on a love fix now that you have a boyfriend?"

"I'm not on a love fix, I just know emotions," Jolie said, sniffing daintily.

Ina rolled her eyes and determinedly ignored Jolie for the rest of class. However, near the end, something tugged her hair. Ina shut her eyes, and immediately, another pair, located on the back of her head, opened. Slade was tugging her hair. She tilted her head, and he made a few gestures with his hands that equated to 'You're hot'. She re-opened her normal eyes, shutting her other pair, and stared at the paper bemusedly, before finally nudging Jolie, who looked bored to death. "Slade just said he thinks I'm hot," she whispered. "What the heaven do I do?"

"Ignore him," Jolie hissed. "He's such a creeper, after all."

Ina sighed in relief, and tugged her hair around so that it couldn't be tugged. She glanced up in time to see Fade watching them. His eyes widened as Ina caught his gaze, and immediately turned his head back around.

_No wonder they got roomed together,_ Ina thought, disgusted. _They're both creepers!_

As soon as they were let out, Jolie squealed and wrapped her arms around Ina, lifting her into the air. "You're going to get a boyfriend yet, Miss Inanna!" she proclaimed.

"Eww, no way," Ina said, wrinkling her nose. "Put me down, midget."

"You only have six inches on me," Jolie said, obeying reluctantly. "I am _not_ a midget."

"I'm only 5' 3"," Ina said dryly. "Yes, you are a midget."

"Why's Ina going to get a boyfriend?" Mihi asked, trailed by Gossamer.

"Slade said she's hot, and Fade was staring at her during class," Jolie said promptly.

"That does not mean Fade's interested," Ina said, impatient, "And they're both such jerks! Why would I ever be interested in either of them?"

"Well," Mihi said thoughtfully, "They've both got really nice butts."

"_Mihi!_" Ina was blushing now. "Quit teasing me! I'm not interested in anyone, and especially not in butts!" She whirled on her heel and ran to catch up to Lindhal, another girl in their Form. "You're sane, I'm walking with you," she said in response to the raised blue eyebrow. Lindhal snorted, but made no objection.

Second period had been cancelled, due to some disturbance that had taken Lust off to the outskirts of Dis, and so the Fifth Form students took their lengthened break cheerfully. Normally they only got a fifteen minute break between second and third periods, so a long break was always welcome - whatever the reason.

Ina chose to sit alone, working on homework Gluttony had already assigned, instead of joining the gossip/betting circle that her friends were firmly esconced in. She worked on one of the comfortable benches provided in the school's lounge area, and as she was ignoring everyone else, did not notice Fade sitting next to her and watching.

Other students poured in as breaktime began, a stream of young children being herded by the older students who had volunteered to work with them instead of taking an off period of some sort, and older students talking loudly. The volume of the room increased, and Ina put her homework away, stuffing it into the pocket of her blazer, which was far larger than it looked.

Fade leaned forward, into her field of vision, as the noise suddenly cut off. Ina's reaction was another involuntary spazz - this time she nearly slapped him before managing to control her hand. He made no reaction, intent on the figure of Ina's grandfather, who had just stood up from nowhere in the center of the room.

Lord Satan was the leader of Hell (the most recently voted-in name for the Underworld of the Realms - so far, the one that had lasted the longest was Hades). He'd been in the position for a long time now, since his father had died in some freak accident or other. "Welcome back for the start of another year, students," he said, spreading an arm wide as he smiled at them. His other hand held onto an ebony walking cane with elaborate designs in platinum. There was some muted response from the students.

"Now, it is my pleasure today to announce the approval of ten students to study with those of us in charge," Satan announced. He tapped his cane on the ground.

Ina felt her blazer twist, and in several seconds, a golden design had taken over one side. Similar designs, she noticed, had sprouted on the jackets of others. Mihi, Jolie, and Gossamer had peeled off their blazers to examine the multicolored designs growing, Slade was grinning smugly at his silver design, Lucky, Koru and Chaud (who truly stood out, even in a school full of strange individuals), were grinning at the looks of envy they received from the other students in their Form, and a set of twins two Forms above Ina had actually started to do war-whoops. The only question was who the tenth person was, and Ina discovered a lot of people looking next to her at...Fade. She twisted her own head to look at his blazer, and blanched. "Oh great," she muttered, staring at the gold design on his jacket. "I'm stuck with you for a year." She twisted back, and spotted Slade, who evidently hadn't seen his roommate's achievement yet. Just as well, since he'd coveted a spot where he would receive private lessons from Satan.

"Should be interesting tonight," she heard Fade mutter as normal chatter resumed.

"You mean you'll probably have a fight with Slade?" Ina asked, looking back at him again. "I'd think he'd just throw a temper tantrum."

Fade's mouth twisted into a sarcastic smirk. "Oh no. Slade's much cleverer than he looks." It broke into a genuine smile, though his monotone didn't waver. "Rather like you."

"I do not look stupid," Ina hissed, scowl forming on her face.

"I didn't say you did," Fade said, smirking again. "You inferred that. Congratulations."

Ina pursed her lips, then grabbed his ear and yanked. Fade yelped and had a minor spazz attack, and glared at her after she let go. She smirked at him, and then, just because she could from her postion, ruffled his hair before standing to flounce off to sit next to Mihi, giggling.

"Now you're good enough to sit with us," Jolie teased, looking up from where she was collecting money. She was in charge of the betting pool on Lucky and Koru. "Fifteen people lost today," she informed Ina. "You're happy."

"Oh, I just got my revenge on Fade for being such a jerk this morning," Ina said, smiling. "Apparently, he doesn't like being touched." Her smile grew dreamy. "Who knew?"

"You're right. She totally likes him," Gossamer said, wrapping an arm around Mihi and Jolie's shoulders and pulling herself from the ground to her feet.

"I do not!" Ina protested as her friends began to laugh. "Jolie, do you want me to talk about how much you love the library?"

Jolie flushed. "Ina! Don't!"

"What's the deal with the library?" Gossamer demanded, confused. "Jolie, what does she have on you?"

"N-nothing," Jolie stammered.

"Ugh, break's over," Mihi said, and stood as well. "Time to gossip about love later. We've got _Pride_ now."

Groans chorused from other members of the Fifth Form.

"I wonder if she's recovered from me yet?" Ina drawled as they walked towards the open courtyard that served as Pride's classroom.

"Evidently," Mihi said, spotting the flash of Pride's electric blue magic.

"Too bad," Jolie sighed. "She always picks on me."

"You? She didn't try to decapitate _you_ last year!" Ina cried.

"That's just because you're family," Jolie retorted.

"Oh, quit bickering, you two," Gossamer ordered. "Or she'll stop you. With a battleaxe."

The two glared at each other, but stopped.

"Oh, quit hovering like idiot mice!" Pride yelled from the middle. "Get your arses in here already!"

The students slowly filed in, casting nervous glances at their teacher. She was a big woman, with purple hair that now had an interesting white scorch in the shape of her unusually absent helmet. Mihi clapped a hand over her mouth to stop her giggles. A ripple of murmurs quickly broke out, then died as Pride turned to glare at them. She leaned heavily on her battleaxe.

_Oh no, she's going to try and kill me for this morning,_ Ina thought, repressing a shudder as Pride's eye landed on her. Then her more rational side kicked in. _Not that today is any different from any other day in the past five years I've been here..._

"Inanna!" Pride called. "Let's see if you're as capable in a fair fight as you are in an unfair one."

"It was Stone Circle," Ina grumbled, reluctantly rising. "That's not unfair. It's called affinity."

"I thought you weren't allowed to fight students in class anymore," Mihi said loudly.

Pride glared, began to swear, and looked around. "Fade!" she roared. "See if you match up to your new cohort."

Fade bounded down with surprising enthusiasm and grinned at Ina. "Payback for my hair," he said cheerfully, monotone breaking for the second time. Whispers actually began to circulate in speculation.

"You're vainer than I am," Ina said. "Not that it's too hard to do that."

"How about we settle this the werewolf way," Fade replied, smirking. Whispers rose in volume.

"You're on," Ina said, lunging at him as she changed.

The next twenty minutes were, to the other students, blurs of snarling, panting, an occasional lucky kick or bite by one of the two, and a few angry howls. Ina finally landed on one of the many benches, bracing her large paws and digging her claws into the soft stone. Fade came flying at her, and they went down in a tumble of fur and stone. When the dust cleared, Fade and Ina were distinguishable from the tangle they'd fallen in solely by the color of their fur. Both were completely unconscious, and Ina's tongue was lolling out of her mouth.

"I guess we'd better take them to the infirmary," Mihi said, after several minutes silence.

"Guess so," Jolie said, springing down from her seat.

"I guess they're an even match," Pride was heard muttering. "Foul temper, unfortunately good fighters. Their poor children."


	2. F!

Chapter Two

Fuck!

Ina awoke in the Infirmary to the interesting discovery that she was back to her usual shape, and also, stark naked. She also discovered that she had a splitting headache. She sat up, clutching the sheet to her chest, and discovered that Fade was in the bed next to her, still unconscious. Despite that fact, her cheeks heated up, and she looked around frantically for the infirmary keeper, Lady Dolor, or clothes, since she'd settle for either.

She laid back down upon not finding either, and had apparently laid down just in time too. Slade walked in a moment later, and she quickly shut her eyes. He didn't notice the quick flash of motion, she hoped, but she heard his footsteps coming towards her bed, and did her best to pretend to be asleep.

"Ina," Slade murmured. "Ina, wake up." There was something almost compelling about his voice, but Ina knew why. The boy had been studying under Lust for the past two years, learning her tricks of manipulation.

_I talk in my sleep normally,_ she thought frantically. _What do I even say? Oh right, doom and the like!_

"Wanna doombunny," she mumbled, shifting slightly. Conveniently, that shift made her figure far less distinct.

"...what the heaven is a doombunny?" Slade mumbled

"Who knows," Fade said. Ina heard him sit up. "What are you doing in here?"

"Checking on her," Slade said. "Only makes sense to do for the girl you like. Of course, you wouldn't know about that, would you?" Ina could only imagine the spectacular sneer on his face. "You, after all, fight pretty girls."

"Pretty? I've seen better looking," Fade said, monotone intact. "However, I _do_ know more about hormones than you believe, including involving her."

"What would you know?" Slade spat.

"Well for one, I know she's not on her period right now," Fade said. "Werewolves have a fantastic sense of smell. For another, she visits my family during break." He sounded smug, actually.

"She visits her adopted mother," Slade scoffed. "I know that you don't have a mother."

"Her adopted mother and my father are in love, and clueless about it," Fade said, returned to his monotone.

"So you'd become siblings if they married," Slade said.

"Not really. Crest never formally adopted her, after all," Fade said.

"So what, you think you've got an in, roommate?" Slade snapped. "_My_ family's powerful here in Hell."

"_My _family runs an entire kingdom," Fade said. "But of course, you don't even know where Lycanth is, do you?" Ina had already known that Fade was from Lycanth, and that he was a prince of some sort, but now, she realized with something close to surprise, he was the prince of her adopted country, and the one Crest had also nearly attempted to set her up with earlier this year.

"I'm not half as stupid as you think I am!" Slade snarled. "You're just pretending you like her to try and piss me off, aren't you? Always trying to show me up, trying to be better and put on airs!"

"Pretending?" Fade asked, and there was a sudden stiffness about his voice that made him sound almost angry. "Unlike you, I don't lie. _Ever._" Ina heard him stand, and wondered whether or not he'd also been stripped down, and found herself shifting again so that her sudden blush wouldn't be visible. It took her a moment more to process that this meant both of them liked her.

"Really?" Slade demanded. "In that case, where's my history book?"

"Up your ass, of course," Fade said, no doubt sneering. "Where else would it be? Unless you actually bother reading it, of course, which I doubt." His tone returned to his monotone. "If it actually is up your ass, I'll be extremely impressed. I really don't know where it is."

From the sound of things, it looked like Slade had actually been about to check, because there was a subdued "Oh" from his direction.

Silence reigned for several minutes, before Slade spoke again. "I'm not an idiot, you know." It was oddly quiet, coming from him, and his voice was cold.

"Yes, I'm sure," Fade said, deadpan. "Mind leaving yet?"

"You'll see," Slade said. "You'll see, Prince Fade. And you won't live to regret it." He was out of the room before Fade could do anything, evidently.

Silence persisted, as Ina heard Fade pacing. Then she felt a surprisingly gentle touch on her shoulder. "How long have you been awake?" he asked.

She stopped a shriek before her mouth had fully opened by biting the pillow. "What?" she managed to say, after a moment of getting herself under control.

"What was the first thing you heard?" Fade asked, evidently tense.

"Something about a history book and Slade's butt," Ina lied. She wasn't about to admit to what she'd heard until she actually figured out what she thought.

"Oh, you just heard us debating where Slade actually keeps his books," Fade said, monotone slipping back into place. "You can get up you know."

Ina turned over slightly and cracked one eye open. Fade's clothes had been left on. "They weren't nice enough to leave me clothed," she drawled, and watched him turn red. She hadn't known he could blush.

He turned around. "Summon some. I won't look," he said, voice oddly rough.

"So, what's the deal with wanting to fight me?" Ina asked as she summoned some clothing to begin dressing under the sheets - an occasionally uncomfortable or awkward phenomenon. She could see Fade's continued blush from the way his ears were red, before she got the shirt over her head and began wriggling through. She almost missed his answer.

"Been bored."

"Why me? The last time you talked to me before today was...back when I first started, actually. That's five years ago. And all you did was say I wouldn't get it easy just because of my family." Ina had to actually get out from under the sheets to get her skirt on, and then blazer. She summoned another pair of socks, and then discovered the pleasant surprise that her boots were under her bed. "I'm dressed now."

Fade turned around, his features surprisingly composed, despite the red across them. "Why not? It's obvious even to Pride, with all her lack of brains, that we're the two best fighters in our Form. If Lucky and Koru weren't here, I'd probably bet on us being the best in school."

"So, you wanted to know who's stronger." Ina couldn't help it as she started snickering, then full-out laughing. "That's the stupidest reason I've ever heard!"

"Why?" Fade asked, his monotone closing back in.

"Why does stronger matter?" Ina demanded, managing to check her laughter.

"It's what proves who's in charge." Now he sounded like he thought she was stupid, and Ina's temper was, unluckily, a quick thing.

"Really? Clearly you've never been to Dragonia. Or ever thought about Gwen Tennyson." Ina felt herself sneering at him slightly, and also realized that she knew his mother, even though he didn't, and felt a strong temptation to tell him, just to piss him off. "Gwen Tennyson can't lift much more than fifty pounds with her bare hands, but she's the most powerful mage ever known."

"You've met her?" Fade asked, evidently curious, by his still-unusual ability to use inflection.

"She's friends with my adoptive mother." Ina considered that for a moment. "Not best friends...but they do seem to meet up in the middle of crazy stuff happening, and then they laugh at everyone else involved sometime in between running for their lives and kicking ass."

Fade couldn't quite summon up anything to say to that.

"Anyhow, when do you think they'll let us out? Lady Dolor's usually on duty here, but nobody seems to be today." Ina paced forward towards the desk area. "It's kind of strange."

"I'm glad she wasn't. Do you know what kind of medicine she usually gives out? Disgusting." Fade's monotone had returned with a vengeance.

"Your mistake for taking it and not telling her to just heal you," Ina said cheerfully, leafing through a pad of paper on the desk. "Huh. She has...three notes from Slade saying that she has a hot body." She snorted. "Oh yeah, they definitely put him in the right position with Lust. He'd be more dangerous without her."

"If he didn't have her, he wouldn't know what to do with his voice, and he'd have someone harder to escape," Fade pointed out.

"He can't accidentally kill someone now. He actually has to work at it," Ina said, still leafing through. "And he's not as good as she is."

"Yet."

"Gloombutt," she drawled. "Well, didn't need to see that." She set the pad back down. "Ugh. As if grandfather didn't have his hands full with six out of seven Sins, he's also got her."

"Only six? Who doesn't he have?" Fade's monotone didn't break, but his eyebrows did rise towards his hairline.

"Wrath. She and Osiris apparently have this thing together, or something. All I know is that I've caught them in his office once, but I've never found her and Grandfather together." Ina shook her head. "You'd think people would lock their closets, but apparently not."

"Speaking of closets, I'm hearing interesting noises from this one." Fade tugged open the door to the "Medicine Closet" where potions were occasionally stored. More often, it housed broken glass and desperate couples. At the moment, it appeared to be home to the rather corpulent body of Lady Dolor, who was tied-up and irate.

Ina pulled the ropes apart and helped the Lady into her chair to dispose of the gag as well. "Old-fashioned way of putting you up," she murmured. "Who the heaven was bored enough?"

"I don't know," Lady Dolor said, after a few minutes of hacking, and a glass of summoned water. "I woke up there." She helped herself to one of her smaller potions kept in her desk, and drank it without flinching. "My keys are gone, it seems," she said after a moment, and shoved white curls from her eyes. "I'd best inform Lord Satan of this matter."

Ina was about to ask why, before she remembered the one location that only two people had keys to. "Ohhh. You're worried someone might use the key to the Pit?"

"Of course. Jumping in is dangerous enough to safety, but at least people know they won't survive that way," Dolor said, at work on transforming her clothing to be more presentable than a pink floral nightgown. "They'd just age until they shriveled up and hit the ground and explode. But if they went in the ground entrance, they'd be under the spell cloud, and be quite able to do harm." She shoved herself out of the chair as part of the floor peeled away into shoes, which she stepped into. "You two had best get along to...fifth period, is it?"

"Yes ma'am," they chorused, both reluctant (though only Ina's voice reflected it).

They made a somewhat rapid dash to Avarice's class, where the russet-haired demon had been just about to shut the door. She gracefully allowed them in before closing it. Slade was nowhere to be found, curiously enough, and the other students were still standing.

"I'm rearranging your seating for the year," she announced, once the two had joined the throng. "Boy with a girl, and all that jazz. Ladies, pick a boy from the hat now." To the ensuing silence, she shrugged and said: "What? I'm bored as all get out. Now give me some drama, children."

Mihi sighed. "Well, that's one thing I'm good at." After she chose Slade's name, the other girls were rather less hesitant about picking a boy. Ina went seventh, and ended up with, of course, Fade, and flopped into a random seat at a desk near Mihi's, conveniently located for talking.

Fade slunk over only after it was clear Ina was not going to move despite his sulking, and then he did his best to create an air of gloom around the desk.

"Mihi," Ina finally said, loudly. "I think I need to borrow your pink blanket and smother Fade with it. Maybe then he'll smile."

There were several snorts among the other students, and Fade scowled further.

"He's such a spoiled royal brat," Mihi murmured to Ina. "It's quite impressive."

"You're telling me." Ina rolled her eyes.

Avarice perched on the desk that Jolie had ended up sharing with Kamen, a slightly flamboyant boy in their Form. No one had figured out if it was an act he put on, or his genuine personality, but either way, most people figured he was flaming in one way or another. Ina thought he was under the delusion that pretending to be gay made him cool (she didn't buy that he was gay, as she'd once caught him staring at Lindhal's chest, which, unless he was simply shocked that it could get that big, meant he was straight), and wasn't likely to relieve him of that impression, as he was a useful source of entertainment, and gossip about the other boys.

"Poor Jolie," Mihi snickered.

"Poor Kamen, if Chaud figures out he isn't gay," Ina giggled.

Fade whacked his head on the desk and then groaned.

"Of course hitting your head on the desk hurts," Ina muttered. "It isn't like these things are made out of solid stone. Not at all."

"And here I thought you might not be intelligent," Fade grumbled. This time, when his head hit the desk, it had the push of Ina's hand behind it.

"Jerk," she grumbled, and put her long hair as a curtain between them.

"Oh good, we've already got some _gooood_ places for entertainment this year," Avarice said, beaming at the two. "Let's start, kids."

When the class had finally finished, the students made their way towards lunch. The Hall (which had been called many a thing, including, one memorable time, the Vomit Yard) was accessable by two points. It could be easily accessed from the front of the school, by visitors and new arrivals, or, by those already in the building, over a narrow causeway across the Pit. No one was sure just why the Pit was part of the school, but those who longed for a more mature appearance would often use it to attain that dream. The protective cloud over whatever it was that was trapped down there had the unique property of aging those under forty, and youthing those over forty. They'd had to invent the term youthing after the first time they'd seen an old person jump in, about three years ago.

The Hall was abuzz with noise from other Forms, which had evidently been let out quicker than the Fifth Form. Ina, Jolie, Gossamer, and Mihi, after forcing their way through the lunch line, set about transfiguring their 'food' into something edible. For Ina, that meant rabbit. She had a serious love for the taste of rabbit. Most werewolves had a similar love for, say, stag, or perhaps horse, but she couldn't get enough of rabbit. It was occasionally disturbing for Mihi to share a room with her, as she'd come back to their room at night on the full moon to find rabbit bones and pelt crunched up on the floor, and Ina happily sprawled in between the room halves, waving her tail cheerfully. Sometimes it wouldn't even be the full moon, but Mihi would still find rabbit bones and pelt, though the perpetrator would be nowhere in sight.

"Rabbit again?" Jolie sighed.

"It is less than three days until the full moon," Gossamer pointed out, delicately spearing an oversized piece of melon. She crunched on it happily. She usually took on a larger shape at the school than her normal sized one, and that required far more energy than her normal one. Fruit provided the sugar that she needed. Her brother had to do the same, though in the Hall, his wings were less visible, since Gluttony had evidently taken it upon herself to redecorate.

"What do you girls think of the new decor?"

_Think of the nut and she appears,_ Ina thought, as her three friends stated approval for the pink. She sighed. It was, at least, better than the scheme that had earned the nickname 'the Vomit Yard', but that was hardly saying much.

Gluttony twirled off without even noticing that Ina hadn't stated an opinion. It was just as well, because she was already thinking of it as pink puke.

Jolie tapped a finger on her lip, a smirk slowly growing on her face. She turned and whispered something to Gossamer, who started giggling, and relayed it to Mihi, who fell off the bench. "That's brilliant!" she exclaimed, and clambered back onto the bench.

"What is?" Ina demanded, and scowled as the three began to laugh. "Well, thanks. Lovely to know it's something incredibly stupid and involving me." She stabbed her rabbit viciously. It always irritated her when her friends came up with something. Invariably, their schemes involved her, a boy, and a closet. When she'd arrived at ten, and been put into the Third Form, their welcome present had been to shove her in a closet with Kamen. In the four years since, she'd been shoved in closets with thirty different boys in the Academy by her friends. She'd been hoping to escape that this year. She set her silverware down, as they continued giggling. "Oh, go die in a bloody hole," she growled, and walked off.

Jolie stopped giggling until she noticed, abruptly, who was following Ina out, with a similar scowl on his face. She nudged the other two, and their laughter only increased.

Ina was halfway across the causeway when Fade bumped into her. She kept her balance, barely, and managed to turn. "Idiot," she snapped.

"It's not my fault you're slow," he growled.

"It won't be my fault if I knock you off," Ina said, growling back. "It'll even solve a few problems."

"Won't be my fault if I drag you off then," Fade drawled.

They stood there a minute, scowling at each other, before Ina spotted a flicker of red coming towards them. She shoved Fade down onto the ground, landing on top of them, as an oversized hand just missed them.

"Heavens!" Ina yelped, and blasted the hand with as much lightning as she could drag up. Her hair began to curl from the static. More lightning filled her hand, as she saw the blast leave a mark. A sudden sucking noise grew, and the hand found itself attached to the wall. One of Fade's hands was outstretched near Ina's.

"Could you get off of me now?" Fade asked dryly. "It'll be easier to hold it when I've got a clear view."

Ina lifted herself off her awkward sprawl. "Sorry." She kept the lightning flickering, now in two hands, with both her sets of eyes open. It was the other set that caught another hand coming from the cloud towards them. She blasted it with the lightning held in both hands. They left small craters in the massive thumb. It was also pinned to the wall shortly.

"The heaven are these hands coming from?" Fade demanded, panting slightly.

"I think someone's woken the thing in the Pit up," Ina said, targeting a third hand with a massive lightning strike. No one in the Hall appeared to have heard so as to come to their aid.

"Wonderful. Absolutely bloody wonderful," Fade growled, pinning the third one. "Can we get some help down here, you think?"

"You're still alive?" That sounded suspiciously like Slade, who also sounded suspiciously older. A fourth hand had swooped up to set him next to the pair. It was also pinned to the wall, but Fade was visibly strained now.

Ina knocked Slade to the ground with a swift punch, and aimed lightning at his throat. "Give me one reason to let you live." She growled, kneeling on his chest. "Maybe killing you will stop it."

"Beautiful, you're too kind," Slade said, smirking. He batted her hand away, and she stopped the lightning from hitting Fade. With her attention distracted, he grabbed her face and forced her to kiss him. She tugged him up and shoved his head back into the stone, a low rumble emitting from her throat.

Fade dragged her off Slade before she could commence murder, and just in time as a fifth hand appeared to rescue its master. The other four hands were beginning to twitch against whatever it was Fade had done.

"I'm going to rule Hell," Slade snarled, from his perch. "And I'm going to have _you_." A sixth hand made a grab for Ina, but she threw up a barrier of lightning, and it recoiled. "You don't have unending power," he said. "Give up."

Ina answered him with a snarl.

"He's completely nuts," Fade muttered behind her.

"I want to know why nobody else has heard and come to help," Ina grumbled.

"Oh, they're occupied with other...things," Slade said, sneering. "You see, dear, now that I've unlocked this being from its slumber, I can do anything."

"Anything? Really." Ina scowled. "Clearly you can't think."

Fade, behind her, actually started laughing, much to the surprise of both Ina and Slade.

"I didn't know you could laugh," Ina said, watching him through her other set of eyes. "I'm...impressed, Mr. Monotone."

"Oh shut up," Fade muttered, blushing as he stopped laughing.

"Now, give up." Slade had already forgotten Ina's accusation.

"He's an idiot, alright. Not that there was any doubt in the first place," Ina sighed.

"Not as dumb as you might think," Fade said. "I'm feeling him starting to set up wards of some sort." His arms, which she now noticed had circled her waist, tightened, and they disappeared, reappearing in the Hall.

The Hall was nearly empty. Many students had fled the strange stone creatures that were currently dismantling the room. Ina caught sight of a flash of gold, and then Lucky landed next to her, braid uncurling and dropping part of a large stone head.

"Know what's going on?" she asked, whirling her head to wind her braid around the outstretched arm of another of the creatures. She shifted, and swung braid, and somehow creature, above her head to smash into the ground. Her braid slowly unwound and she swung it back. "Those chains were useful."

Ina was staring at Lucky's braid, so Fade answered. "Slade's gone nuts, and apparently released the monster or whatever that was in the Pit. It seems to have something to do with an obsessive crush on Ina, and he wants to kill me. Not sure why."

"It might be the way you're holding her right now. Just maybe," Lucky suggested. "I'd suggest you two getting out of here. Koru, Chaud and I are staying until everyone else is out." She caught a flash of pink and whirled. "And watch out for the Sins!"

Gluttony giggled. "Well, hello Lucille darling!" Lucky's braid knocked her off her feet.

"Get out," the blonde giantess ordered.

Fade dragged Ina for a few seconds before she had quite caught up. "It'd be easier to move if you'd let go of my waist," she said.

He flushed, but let go, and they ran for the exit. Suddenly, an interesting scene rose in front of them. Lust, Pride, and Satan had been surrounded by a group of the stone creatures, and had evidently been fighting them for a while. As Ina and Fade were about to go to help them instead, Pride, in a sudden burst of something, swung her battleaxe to her side. It bit through Lust's waist, and she was dead even before she'd fallen.

"Pride!" Satan's voice boomed.

"She always was your favorite," Pride said, sneering. "Even though I bore your heir. Little tramp." She advanced on Satan, who lifted his cane. It shimmered into a small trident-staff.

"So you'll betray not only me, but your sisters as well?" he asked, sad.

"Who said I'm betraying all of them?" Pride retorted. Avarice appeared behind her, to stand calmly as Envy and Sloth also appeared, while flashes of pink and gold whirled in the background. "The only ones I'm flipping off are Wrath and you. She," she gestured at the corpse of Lust, "isn't even worthy of betrayal."

Somehow, that made Satan lose his temper, and he leaped at her. He too, ended his life on the stained axe.

Fade didn't really think before he grabbed Ina around the waist again, and disappeared.


	3. Breakdowns

Chapter Three  
Breakdowns

Ina was limp, which worried Fade. He'd managed a large teleportation spell, and was more than a little low on power. Ina, he knew, wasn't running low on power, but he'd never seen someone in shock. Cautiously, he turned her around.

She wasn't crying, nor was she trying not to. Ina's pink eyes were half-shut, and there was no expression on her face. She didn't look like she'd just seen her grandfather killed.

"Ina, are you ok?" he asked, working hard to keep his monotone intact.

"I will be," she said, toneless. "Once I kill Pride and Slade." Her fists were clenched, he noticed.

"You won't be able to do anything right away," he pointed out.

"Oh, believe me, I know," she said, flexing her hands. "But Slade will come after, and this time, he isn't going to get saved by anything."

_Welp, I think he may just be completely screwed,_ Fade thought, watching as her face slowly shifted into an expression. He couldn't place it, though.

"We're close to Blelish, aren't we?" she asked, after a moment, prying his grip off of her to step away.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I've really never made it out of the cities when I'm here."

"I think we are," she said, nostrils flaring. "They keep the orcs away from the city." She stretched, and as she stretched, there was a sudden change to her clothing. It stayed mostly black, but her blazer, shirt, and skirt melded into a short black dress with a high collar, and a black semi-skirt over that. Satan's trident-staff appeared in her hand, and she lifted it up to stare, eyes widening. "Well," she said, voice rising very slightly, "I'm suddenly getting better _why_ Slade wants me." She squared her shoulders. "I don't suppose this bloody thing could take a more normal form."

"Spoke too soon," Fade said, watching it shift to a staff that vaguely resembled a sword. "It's slightly more normal now."

"Only slightly, of course. If it was completely normal, it wouldn't be real," she said, swinging it over her shoulder. "Wonder how I get rid of this bloody skirt," she grumbled, picking at the semi-skirt. "It feels stupid. I'd prefer a full skirt or pants or something."

Fade stared as the skirt changed first into an overly long swath of fabric, then molded itself into shorts. Highly short shorts, in fact, maybe even hot pants. "Somehow, I get the idea that was not what you wanted," he drawled.

Ina sighed. "Better than a skirt, I guess," she said, brushing them down. "A lack of collar would be...er, not that deep a V-neck...good." The outfit had changed as she spoke. "Ohkay...I have a sentient outfit. That's amazing."

"Just what everyone wants when their school's taken over," Fade drawled. "So helpful."

Ina snorted and grabbed his hand. "We should get outta here, though." She dragged him for several minutes before he recovered enough presence of mind to start moving his legs. He wasn't sure he had enough ability to tell her she could let go of his hand, wasn't sure if his voice would work.

After another few minutes, he managed to extricate his hand. "You know...we can teleport in Lycanth," Fade coughed.

Ina stopped, causing Fade to crash into her. "Oh! I'd...forgotten..." She pushed Fade off of her and stood. "Well, I guess that's easier." She shook her head, helped him up, smiled absently, and turned away. Her shoulders hunched, then she spun around again, grabbed his hand, and squinted. A flash of her pale pink (and oddly sparkly) magic, and they stood in the middle of Blelish, the glow around them slowly fading.

A nearby woman snorted. "Puppies," she barked, and shifted to her werewolf form to catch up to some friends, then shifted back to walk with them.

Ina rolled her eyes. "Some people," she muttered, and tilted her head as she tried to remember her usual route.

Fade switched forms, and sniffed curiously. His tail lifted up and wagged cheerfully. Thoughtlessly, he grabbed Ina's hand in his mouth and tugged slightly.

Ina stared at him for a minute, face blank, before she remembered. As it got closer to the full moon, werewolves had less ability to speak in wolf shape. While they were unable to change shapes at the full moon, they had the disadvantage of being unable to speak on the full moon. It was a bizarre little cycle that no one quite understood, and everyone just lived with. "Right," she said. "I'll just change over too, so we can actually communicate." A second later, both in werewolf form, they trotted off.

The "streets" in Blelish were, at best, primitive. More realistically, they were sections of dirt and grass that had been trampled down over time, until they reached a point of being packed quite solid, but not too hard for sensitive paws to race across. Really, Lycanth itself was fairly primitive. Of the five cities, Blelish was the only one that had seen any minor improvements. The rest were in abysmal shape.

Running through Blelish with Fade was exhilerating enough for Ina that she didn't even think about why. Tongue lolling, tail waving, she kept up with his changes in direction, dodged those in human or werewolf form to the extreme of racing through someone's legs, and lost herself in the feeling of running. She rarely got the chance to run and be unconstrained, and had almost forgotten the sheer adrenaline rush of pure happiness. For those minutes, she forgot everything but the ground under her feet and the boy by her side. It was beyond disappointing when they stopped.

Fade stretched into his human form, hands locking behind him as he changed. "We just have to walk a few feet," he told Ina, who was giving him the best version of puppy eyes she could muster. She groaned, and resumed her usual form.

"I hate you," she grumbled.

"Really?" he asked, monotone reappearing.

She blinked at him, surprised. "No. It's a joke." A roll of her eyes, and she stalked forward. He caught up to her, returned to his customary silence.

The palace in Blelish was relatively small and not really palace-y at all. It was more a few towers, and some random outbuildings, completed by a huge outer wall with a gate, which somehow seemed quite out of place with the otherwise inconspicuous air of the palace. The roughly four werewolves guarding the gate - two in human form, two in wolf form, prepared for anything - knew Fade by scent, as well as Ina. They were half of the entire guard for the palace. Security was not exactly a large problem for them - any average citizen on the street was easily capable of fighting any invader, and anyone wanting to challenge Draug's rule of Lycanth would do so openly. Wolf social laws applied, obviously.

"What brings you here so early?" demanded one of the four, eyeing them curiously.

"Crazy shit would be the appropriate word," Fade replied gruffly. Ina had stiffened beside him, remembering again their reason.

"I guess you'd better tell your dad, then," the same one said. "Come on in, cubs." Respectful titles only applied to Draug - hey, he was the only one actually in charge! She opened the gates easily, and pushed them shut as soon as the two entered.

"Oh, and if any lunatics come after us, you might want to give them a paw up the ass," Fade added. "It could only improve their sanity."

She barked a laugh and patted him on the shoulder hard enough to leave a bruise.

Ina followed Fade absently. As he neared the area his father usually frequented, he frowned at her more. By the time they'd reached his father's office area, he was convinced she was headed for a meltdown. On the upside, his room was nearby, so he pulled her in there. "Ina."

She glanced at him, and in several seconds, broke down completely. She wrapped her arms around her waist and just started bawling her eyes out. Briefly baffled, Fade had to think of what Crest - the only remotely sensitive person he knew - did when he'd had bad dreams, which were the only occasions he could remember crying on. Awkwardly, he hugged her. (That thing where someone's arms go around another person, right?)

Her sobbing was utterly incomprehensible, if she was even sobbing anything in particular, and he was a little disturbed that his shirt seemed to be getting soaked. On the other hand...regardless of the reason, it felt really...interesting to have her this close. This near the full moon, he could smell her scent better than any day save the full moon itself, and so he drank it in. She smelled like the Underworld itself, like dirt and stone and old plants and maybe some flowers - amaranth, perhaps. Tears smelled interesting too, all salty and fear and anger. They also seemed to have the effect of making him angry. _Hello irrational emotions, I haven't missed you at all,_ he thought dryly.

Ina finally removed herself from his awkward hug and wiped her eyes on her hand angrily. "Sorry," she said roughly, "Sorry. I didn't realize I was going to do that." She straightened her shoulders, and her expression, previously screwed up and vulnerable, smoothed into one he recognized - he'd seen it every day on his own. The absent, disaffected by whatever happens, nothing matters face that he had pasted on for years. And then she smiled cheerfully at him, swished her hair, and the only thing that told him she'd been crying was her scent, and the slight redness of her face. Well, that and the fact that his shirt was soaked through. And his blazer.

"Right. I'll just change this shirt then," he said dryly. He didn't think until _after_ his shirt was off that this would look incredibly awkward if anyone walked in. Too bad. It was surprisingly quick for him to find and throw on one of the t-shirts Crest had found for him on Earth. (She never explained how she got them either...)

Ina's composed look had faded into the rather demurely awkward one, with her eyes averted and her face bright, cherry, blotchy red. "Well," she said, slightly higher pitched than usual, "Ah, can we, um, go now? To do whatever it is we're doing?" She shifted for a moment, took a deep breath, and recovered her composure completely. Her skin returned to its normal color and she flashed him an engaging smile.

Fade didn't dare let himself think that he might be doomed. That would be admitting...something, anything. Too much.

"So, uh..." She cast around aimlessly. "What did we come in here for?"

"In here my room, or in here Lycanth?"

"Ah, both."

"Well, uh, in here here, uh, well...you were obviously going to have a meltdown and uh, well, here Lycanth, because uh...Dad should know...?" Fade smacked himself. Focusing, he said, "I brought you here so you wouldn't cry out in the hall, and I picked Lycanth without really thinking."

"Oh, that makes more sense." She tugged the door open, and him out, before he could think, then slammed the door. "Where to?" She then noticed the shadow standing over them, and blinked at the scarred woman standing over her. "CREST!" With a squeal, something that sounded close to a sob, and a dramatic jump, Ina had wrapped her arms around her adoptive mother's neck and was babbling at a speed unintelligible to Fade. What made it worse was that Crest understood, and talked at the same speed to Ina.

"Well, I'll go find Dad, then," Fade muttered.

"Don't bother," Crest said, returning to normal volume and speed. "_He's_ having word with Tennyson about something ridiculous." She rolled her eyes. "Gwen, that is."

"Well. She could do something too," Ina said, turning to look at Fade.

"So, I uh, guess she knows what happened now?"

"Yeah. Couldn't you tell what we were saying?" Ina gave him a puzzled look.

"Normal people don't speak that fast," Fade grumbled.

Crest pushed Ina off. "All right. Want to see a fireworks show? AKA Gwen and Draug, I mean." Before they could answer, she was striding off. They caught up quickly.

The "fireworks show" seemed to take place in the courtyard. Other than the crater where Fade knew a tree had once resided, it seemed to be fairly tame. Gwen wasn't on fire or anything, and Draug was still in human form.

"So, when'd the crater show up?" Ina asked curiously, peering out one of the archways into the courtyard.

"Three hours ago, when Gwen first showed up. Draug attacked her on instinct, she blew a crater in the ground. They seem to be best friends now, though." Crest snorted, resting her scarred hands on the stone edge.

"That would make Gwen happy," Ina said, perching on the edge. "What're they talking about?" She was anxious, but still wasn't likely to walk in on any conversation where Gwen - who had briefly been her magic teacher - was likely to lose her temper. For all but a very few people, that could be deadly.

"Terms of the treaty," Crest said cheerfully. "Some idiot's been breaking it, and Queen Chandrisa clearly forgot that Lycanth has only a few laws."

"What, you mean the grand total of two?" Ina said, leaning out a little. "The one about protecting children and always being on call for the King?"

"There's more than _that_," Fade drawled, "Maybe three."

Crest swatted both of them. "Seriously, now. I think there's a grand total of a hundred. Compared to say, Dragonia, that's very few. They've got thousands of laws on the books, and constantly have to update them."

"Being in charge must be confusing," Fade said, glancing at Ina.

She bit her lip. "Yeah." The sobering reminder of her grandfather closed in on her, and she wrapped her hands around the side of the window.

Crest stretched, "They look to be winding down on their insults and business," she said. "Come on." She hopped out the window, barely brushing Ina, and the two teens followed. "Draug," she called, as soon as they were close to the crater, where Gwen and Draug had moved to argue in.

He glanced up at them, blonde-grey hair flopping in his face, and beamed. "Hi Crest!" His cheerful face faded to puzzlement. "What are you two doing back here? Semester isn't over yet."

"Shit's happened," Crest said, as Ina looked anxious and Fade started growling. "Ina told me that...Slade, I think it was, let the Beast out, and then Pride and some of the other Sins killed Lust and Satan. Oh, and Slade has an obsession with marrying Ina. Not sure what else may be happening."

Gwen and Draug disappeared in a quick flash of green, and reappeared next to the group in another flash. As the color faded, Gwen grabbed Ina's hands. "Look at me. Describe the Beast, Inanna."

Ina gulped. "Huge. Red. Kinda bumpy skin? An apparently endless amount of hands. We saw...six."

"That's what I was afraid of. Slade."

"White hair, stupid face, left eyebrow is pierced, red eyes, probably about five eight, high-pitched voice for a guy." Ina scowled. "He probably looks about twenty now, since he came through the barrier."

"And I know the Sins." Gwen tugged on the longest piece of her crimson hair, thinking, lips pursed. "Mph. Problems should be coming out of our ears at any time now."

"What is the Beast supposed to do, exactly?" Fade asked.

"Destroy the world. Make a new world. Earn some chick's undying love." She shrugged. "Nobody really knows, except say, Yathrine, and she'd only know because Malia made it."

"Couldn't you unmake it so we don't have to figure out what it does?" Ina asked.

"Not once it's got a master, which it sounds like Slade now is."

Draug scowled. "And what will that mean for Lycanth? We're on the border of Hell, here."

Gwen rubbed her forehead. "I don't know. I hate not knowing." Eyes turned upwards, she fidgeted, muttering under her breath, before her eyes widened abruptly. Immediately, she held out a hand and a book appeared, already flipping itself to a page. "Lessee...ha!" She grinned slightly, reading down the page, and it changed to a scowl. "Well that's fan-freaking-tastic."

"Just say the real swearword," Ina said. "We've heard them all anyhow."

Gwen ignored her. "The Beast can't be killed. Its master has to be killed. But, by having mastery _of_ the Beast, the master of it is...extremely difficult to kill. They'll gain powers beyond their natural ones, probably equivalent to a minor Star, as well as stronger immunity to...everything. Including magic." She scowled. "_And_ they can transfer magical attacks onto the Beast, so there goes making him have a heart attack and putting it back to sleep."

"So...what do you do?" Ina asked.

"Hell if I know." The book disappeared. "I'll figure it out. Until then, why don't you take a trip to Earth? I'm afraid, Ina, that your being anywhere here would pose a danger. The spells to move between the worlds are only really known to...people who know me and Risa fairly well. And Draug, because he's just that damn special."

"What about Midsummer?" Draug asked.

"It's August. I'll be very dissappointed in myself if I can't solve it before then." She gnawed on a fingernail. "May come to bothering with a stupid-ass war and a few assassins, to kill him. Could he be stupid enough to come without the Beast, I wonder?" She shook her head. "Anyhow. You two." She grabbed Ina and Fade by the shoulders, and glanced at Draug with a sudden grin. "Hey, Draug. I'm kidnapping your kid with my awesome candy. That fine?"

"Go right ahead, he doesn't clean toilets," Draug said.

Crest choked laughing. Once Draug had beaten her back enough, she managed to say, "We don't even have toilets."

"Outhouses then."

Gwen laughed, and then, in another flash of green, disappeared with the teenagers.

"Okay, so the deal _here_ is that it's another school. Easier to blend in, I'd figure. This is Earth, as you know, and we sent Aiden and Hali here...before he knocked her up, I mean."

"Who?" the two chorused.

"Aiden and Hali. Aiden is Risa's nephew, Hali is his girlfriend. Fiancee. They're engaged now, because she's pregnant _again_." She snorted. "She's seventeen. I suppose it's better than Risa...and me..." she coughed. "Anyhow. Kadic Academy. Supposedly, it's kickass awesome academics, but frankly, I doubt it. It's really just a general dumping ground for lazy geniuses and really hard-working idiots."

"Thank you for that inspiring description," Ina grumbled.

"_Anyhow_, I can have you enrolled in twenty seconds." Gwen grinned broadly. "And then you two will be safe while we figure out what the hell to do."

"That's...good. I guess."

Gwen frowned at Ina. "Right. Come on." She led the two inside the gates of the campus, cheerfully ignoring the two cars that stopped to honk at her - though, mysteriously, their horns did not work.

Kadic was quite good-looking from the standpoint of trees. Unlike Hell, it was above ground, and unlike Lycanth, it wasn't a haze of unidentifiable smog and dirt, but the eyes of Ina and Fade (happily rather feline in nature) had changed size to accomodate the light changes. There were quite a few fields, an enormous soccer (or football) stadium, and more than a few teenagers lounging around boredly. A few of the boys nudged each other and began whistling at Gwen, until their voices dried up abruptly. She never turned to look. Fade didn't look around either, but Ina's head turned every which way, memorizing the place as quickly as she could.

"So, what classes are there at a human school?" Fade asked.

"Math, PE - physical education, suckiest class ever, History, whatever the language here is, any other languages you choose to speak, science." Gwen scowled at the doors of the main building, and they slammed themselves open. She proceeded inside, and the teenagers followed.

"It occurs to me," she said as they wandered in the direction of where an office might be, "You've never had half these subjects."

"We had math. And I think it's French here - you taught me that, and translation spells aren't hard, science is easy to fake, history is easy to pick up on, and physical education...does it involve fighting?" Ina rattled off.

"No, PE does not involve fighting."

Ina and Fade exchanged a blank glance. "Then...what does it do that's educational?" she asked.

"Hell if I know," Gwen said, shrugging. She strolled into what appeared to be an office, where a giant of a girl was hunched over the desk, arguing with the secretary.

"Ma'am, I _need_ you to switch this class, please."

"Why would I try to swap it with some other class?" the secretary demanded. "The teachers would get irritated and I'd have to deal with them."

"Because," the girl growled, leaning closer, "I. Can't. Fit. In. The. Classroom."

The secretary flinched. "All right, I'll see what I can do." She blanched as the girl stood up. In a room with ten foot ceilings, her head came close to brushing the ceiling.

"Thank you, Miss Kramer," she said, brushing a strand of hair the length of Gwen's body away from her face. "I'll be back tomorrow to see what you've done. Bye." She walked past the three standing near the door, and ducked through.

"She's tall," Ina said, after a moment.

Fade opened his mouth, then thought better of it and shut it. The walls here could be tougher than the desks at the Academy.

"Her hair's longer than I am," Gwen said, gaping after the girl.

"That's Naginata Tessen," the secretary sighed, rubbing her eyes. "Scariest girl in school." She shook her head. "How can I help you three?"

Gwen smiled and walked over to her. She shook the secretary's hands, her eyes gleamed, and a moment later, the secretary had them enrolled, and Gwen as grinning. The effects passed, and the secretary blinked at the screen. "That took shorter than it should have. Huh, must be finally getting the hang of the system." She beamed at them. "Go ahead and take your stuff to the dorms to get settled. Inanna Ferr, you'll be in a single. Fade Silvermoon...you'll be with Herve Pichon." The printer spit out a bunch of pages, which she gathered and handed to Gwen, who then towed the teenagers from the room.

"So...what do we do about the full moon?" Ina asked Gwen.

"You'll figure it out," Gwen said, shrugging. "Just summon a bunch of crap for your stuff. I don't care."

"Tehcnically, isn't that illegal?" Ina asked.

Gwen snorted. "So is dropping light posts on irritating politicians. I'm just a bit above the law."

Ina rolled her eyes, but didn't argue.


	4. Matchmaker, Matchmaker

Koto belongs to littleraccoondemon. If you want to find her art and whatnot of him and his little sister Sarah, go visit her dA account (under the name of littleraccondemon if you were confused).

Risa belongs to (shockers!) Risa, as does Kenlath. AKA Chandrisa Silvara on here and dA.

I don't own the song I referenced in the title. Or K'thonya's name. I accidentally took that from Earthsong (a webcomic). Her name has since been changed, but I prefer to use the name she was under during these roleplays.

* * *

Chapter Four  
Matchmaker, Matchmaker~

After leaving the two kids to settle in, Gwen returned to her usual place of residence. She'd deal with what she needed to handle with Draug later. For now, she needed to do some research, which meant leaving her comfy palace suite, and going to the library. She stuck out horribly in the Dragon Realms, by virtue of not wearing dresses and by wearing shoes. As such, she was avoided in the hallway. A lonely life, she sometimes thought, but usually, she was convinced her life was fine. It was a lie she fed herself, to make things more bearable. What else could she do, when even her closest friends dreaded her smallest outbursts? The only person who wasn't afraid of her wasn't there. When she passed his door, the familiar ache that hit was quickly quashed. "I'm fine," she insisted to the hallway, barely even noticing the wary looks by the current occupants of the hall. She trained her eyes on the floor and walked away as fast as she could. She forgot the purpose of what she was doing, and let her feet take their own path. They took her to the gardens, as usual, to the exact same spot they'd taken her many times before.

When she noticed her surroundings again, it was late. The fountain in the middle of this particular part of the gardens was empty - freezes came early in the Realms, and the magic that powered it shut off for winter. No reason to waste magic. Her eyes drifted to the ground absently. "I. Don't. Miss. Him." She snarled at the open air, and flung herself from the bench. If only moving her feet was as easy. She stared blankly at the fountain before she mustered the willpower to leave. She managed to take herself to the library, and wandered to a section she knew too well. She'd spent copious amounts of time here as a teenager, and knew most of the books by heart. It was no Earthly library, with someone monitoring others - no librarian telling a person to shut up or get out.

Sometimes Gwen hated the library. But it was her safe place, where she could hide among the stacks and forget responsibilities, forget the world, and leave her dumb emotions and stupid fears behind. She wandered blindly into the stacks, fingers trailing as she breathed in the scent of books. She stopped midway down one row, rested her head briefly against the wall, and began to be aware of details. She knew it by heart, anyhow. They kept the darkest books in this section, everything from the book that detailed the spells of Bloodmagic to the deadliest spell in the world, the Ishglakra. Fingers moving, she skittered through books that were falling to pieces, pages tugged from some rotting binding, whole reams of pages that had been carefully organized but left unbound, and some decently preserved tomes. Eventually, she found her query, a slim, leather-bound volume that had been well kept. Only one corner of the cover was dog-eared, from misuse during the brief period it had been in the possession of Vilgax. She took it over to one of the small tables in the library and sat on the window seat that backed the table. At some point, she found herself yawning and not certain of what she was reading. Eventually, her head tilted back against the window, and the book slid from her grip.

When she felt her back heating up, Gwen stretched slowly, eyes fluttering open. Her vision blurred, came into focus, and then briefly went white for a moment, as her eyes adjusted to the light. She yawned into her hand, and finally noticed the person sitting across from her, bemused expression on his face. Her mouth dropped for a second, then closed long enough for her to manage a smile. If she'd opened it again, she might have done something incredibly embarrassing, like screaming his name, or proclaiming how much she'd missed him, or tackling him and kissing him right then and there. (And not doing the last one was still taking incredible restraint...)

"Er...are you okay, Gwen?" Koto finally asked, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

She nodded fervently, leaning to pick up the book from the floor. In her effort to regain control of her body, she managed to tip off the seat. As he started to his feet, worried, she managed to flap a hand at him. "I'm fine. Just stiff from sleeping." Probably a good thing he couldn't see her blush, she figured. Well, that and the fact he never noticed blushing anyhow...

Koto pulled her to her feet abruptly, hugged her briefly, then released her. It was _very_ good he didn't recognize blushes for what they were, or he'd be disturbed by her bright red face. As it was, he grinned at her. "You were reading till you passed out again?"

"Yeah," she said, glancing away. "There's...issues starting up. Again."

"I figured as much. Draug actually let me know I should come back. I didn't know he was capable of that strong magic..."

"He's very powerful when he cares to be," Gwen said. "Did he tell you what?"

"Some kid pulled a coup in Hell...or something like that."

"Yeah, basically. He let out a demon, the Beast, that's been sealed for...a really long time. I was reading up on that." She yawned, involuntarily shuddering and stretching. "Aaaanyhow, trying to find any documented ways to deal with the problem before I go all unorthodox on its ass."

Koto grinned. "Well, I'm sure you can handle it. Where're Risa and Ben?"

_I hope so._ "This time...their bedroom, probably. I hope. Where's Sarah?"

"Left her with our parents. The last thing she needs is to be involved in another fight. I used the cloaking charm you had Hex made for her, and it's working beautifully. Nothing had come looking for her yet." He beamed.

"It's about time something worked," Gwen sighed. She smoothed down her jeans, wrinkled things they were, and glanced at Koto, trying not to blush any further.

Risa burst into the library abruptly, her long silver hair floating behind her. She marched past startled librarians who gaped at her, to the back table. "Gwen! There's a-"

"-problem? Yeah, I know." Gwen ran a hand through her short hair. "Before you ask-"

"Why haven't you taken care of it already?"

"Because I _can't_. Not yet. This is beyond me, Risa."

Risa's jaw dropped. "But- you're- you're practically a goddess! You're a Star. You should- Nothing?"

"Nothing," Gwen confirmed. "I'm not all-powerful, okay?" She felt her eyes starting to glow and covered them, trying to calm herself. Getting emotional was so not the best thing to do.

Risa stepped back slightly, "Gwen, I-"

"It's fine," she said, cutting her off. "Could you just...not be so nervous?"

"Kind of hard when I've seen you blow entire buildings up, but I guess I'll try."

Koto looked bemused. "How did you find out you can't do anything about it?" he asked.

Gwen held up the book in her hands. "Written by the last person to lock the Beast up. It also chronicled the history of the Beast, from accounts by Stars and those old enough to remember its creation. It is, in essence, impervious to magic. You have to kill the master, and that gets harder because the Beast's strength gets passed Nobody seems to know what the fuck it's supposed to do." She stuffed the book into her pocket. "I need food. Food, and some, like. I dunno. Paper? And something to write with."

"Why?" Risa asked, beginning to lead her towards the dining hall.

"Food, because food is goodness itself and my jeans are trying to fall off again, and stuff to write with because I need to get what I know and don't organized." She covered another yawn. "And maybe some coffee. I could use the ability to function."

Breakfast in the Realms was an extraodinarily boring function. Unlike the occasional fancy banquets thrown, royalty was not the priority. Instead, everyone was blobbed together, gossipping and reaching over and under each others arms for food. Of course, the second Gwen and her noticeable appearance took a seat, the seats on either side of her were vacated. Risa and Koto took them instead, sparing others from feeling the need to move. Gwen kept her eyes down, avoiding skin contact with others when she reach to grab some food. Slowly, talk around them resumed between those Risa had not engaged.

"Gwen, are you okay?" Koto asked, peering at her as she ate.

"I'm fine," she said. "Just glad you're back."

"Gwen..."

"Honest, I'm fine." She flashed a cheerful smile at him. "We'll figure something out for this."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"That's fine too." He'd only hate her like the rest of them if he figured out that they hated her, anyhow. Everyone just went with the crowd. They were all afraid of her, and so many of them hated her. She couldn't blame them. She hated her. How could she not? She was horrible. Horrible. A horrible excuse for a creature, living here like a parasite or something. All she did was botch the spells a little kid could get right. Stupid, stupid, stupid! She just needed to stop thinking and figure this problem out and then she could hide in her chambers and block them and the stares and the hurt and the fear and the everything out again and forget any of it existed except the few friends she had left and one day they'd leave her and she'd kill herself and still live on with nothing to live for anyhow because she'd been stupid and absorbed immortal things and it wasn't her fault she hadn't known and she just wanted them to stop being scared of her.

"Gwen?" Risa asked, bringing her back to herself. Her fork had broken in two. Luckily, nobody else had noticed. Quickly, so as not to disturb anyone, she fixed it under the table.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I got distracted."

"That's fine," Koto said, glancing over. "Really, Gwen."

She gave him a small smile and excused herself. "I'm going to see if there's anything else in my rooms I can get something out of," she said, and hurried off. Only a small portion of her plate had been touched, due to her hurry to escape.

Risa rubbed her forehead. "I'm so glad you came back, Koto. She hasn't been at all normal lately. She only leaves her rooms if ordered to, or if she's hiding in the library, or wandered out to the gardens and sat there staring at nothing for hours. She's hardly eaten, or, or- I don't even know if she sleeps!" she burst out, the last sentence startling the elf next to her slightly. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," she apologized, smiling gently at him. Reassured, he resettled.

"How long has she been like that?" he asked.

"Since you left."

"That's weird," he said, looking utterly baffled.

"Yeah..." she shook her head slightly. Was he _blind_? Had he not noticed how much Gwen blushed around him? How her eye would follow his every move, no matter the situation? The way she treated his sister like she was her daughter? Well, okay, it wasn't just Gwen who did that last one, but still! Gwen was the most obvious girl-in-love in the history of the universe! HOW HAD HE NOT NOTICED?

"Is something wrong, Risa? You look frustrated."

"I am, just a little bit," Risa grumbled.

"What's wrong?"

She glanced at his plate. He was done, good. "Walk and talk," she said, standing gracefully and beckoning to him. They meandered into the hall. "What exactly do you think of Gwen?" she asked, careful to keep her voice cool, and with a touch of the regal air she used during official functions and private meetings.

"What do you mean? I mean, she's a good friend...probably my best. And she really cares about Sarah, and you, and even Ben, even though he's always being horrible to her..."

"No, I mean personally. How do you...feel about her?"

"I care about her. Isn't that what friends are supposed to do?"

She'd have believed it if his ears hadn't flattened, and his tail hadn't tucked between his legs. What an utterly brilliant act. Too bad he couldn't blush and didn't get them, no matter how often they were explained. It would've made things so much easier. "Koto, your tail's giving you away," she said dryly. Maybe Gwen needed to notice his body language too...

"What?" He looked at his tail. It shifted away from his legs. "Oh, that's just...uh, warmer."

"Your ears."

He reached up a hand. "Oh, ah, they're, uh, cold too." He grinned at her.

"_Koto_. I swear to Athiyk I will kill you if you don't give me a straight answer!" she cried.

"Okay, okay! Geez!" He backed up from the furious dragon. "Calm down, Risa."

She sighed, relaxing. "Spill. Now. I've only been being patient for the past seventeen goddamn years. Now, everything. How you guys met - I missed it, since I wasn't living with her yet - everything. And I mean it. I'm too curious to have waited this long for a half-assed story." She dragged him into her office, shoved him into a chair, and plopped into hers, feet on the desk, up on a few important pieces of paperwork. Nothing magic couldn't fix.

He rubbed his neck, ears flattening again. "Sarah and I had just arrived on Earth. She saw a butterfly and ran off, and so, of course, I got nervous. We'd picked up some of the language, but I mean, we weren't very good, especially not her, and we didn't look like the natives, obviously. I was pretty worried Vilgax would find her, and I was right. He did.

"When I got to the ship, I saw this girl holding Sarah and screaming at Vilgax. I didn't notice much about her, other than the fact that she had my sister almost safe. I attacked Vilgax to buy them the time to get out. Didn't bargain on her cousin showing up to fight Vilgax too. Well, we beat him for that time, till he ran off. Probably would've attacked me next, if Sarah hadn't pulled his cousin and herself between us, and she hadn't looked him in the eye and dared him to fight me. He...didn't. I'm still surprised about that when I watch how they act together now. You'd never guess that either of them actually cared.

"So I tried to take Sarah off with me, but she insisted on introductions. And she wouldn't let me go. "We're both fighting Vilgax. He'll find us seperate or not. Besides, we can feed you, and help you blend." I still don't know why she did that. But she did, and I've been grateful ever since. I know why she could do it, though. Like me, she'd lost her parents just a week prior, also to Vilgax. Ben had been luckier, not losing either. But since they owned that duplex, Gwen argued her way into keeping the other side. I don't know how she did that either. But she had us moved in for almost a month before we found out why we could. I only figured it out because I heard her crying in her room. I wound up in school with her and Ben, after she was attacked by a boy in her grade.

"She really was a magnet for men back then. All ages, they were just kind of drawn to her. All of them wanting to hurt her. I guess she looked vulnerable. You came along around the same time I started school with them, and joined the insanity, so you'd remember. Remember Michael? I think we all want to kill him again for what he did to her. I just remember that she used to care about everyone and everything, even if she hid it. I guess it started when her parents died. She wanted the pain to stop. She didn't want people to see her cry.

"I...I love her. I guess that doesn't surprise you. You're kind of the all-knowing one, as far as emotions go. I've been in love with her since I met her, honestly. Does it matter? She's my friend, whatever else I feel about her. She's still hurting, and I still don't know how to help her. There's not much I can do, honestly. I think Michael hurt her too much for her to...you know. If I could go back in time and destroy him, I would. I know I can't protect her. I can't even help her. So why did you ask?"

Risa set her hands on the arms of her chair. Was he clueless? As far as she could tell, he helped Gwen just by existing and breathing in close to the same space as she did. But he'd noticed more about Gwen than she had, clearly. She hadn't even guessed about why Gwen had become so withdrawn over the years, going from fairly outgoing to reclusive. She'd just figured it was the magic changing her. She hadn't changed too much after the whole Draug incident, besides getting more cautious. Maybe it was that she'd been older, and that she'd been raised to expect that kind of thing to happen in a country where for so long, taking something made it yours. Humans didn't really have that custom. She should have thought of it. If Koto was a failure as a protector, well, she was a failure as a friend. But she couldn't admit that to him; he needed _her_ confidence right now. She could break down later, with Ben, and he wouldn't care.

"I asked because I wanted it confirmed." Risa held back a sigh. What to say without giving away too much? These two idiots had so thoroughly confused themselves that she didn't have the slightest idea - or ability! - to unmuddle their love knot for them. They'd have to manage that themselves. Hopefully before the next millenium was over. "And you do help her, even if you can't see it." She drummed her fingers on her desk. It wasn't like she needed to give them an excuse for close proximity to each other...but at the same time, she did need to, to make sure this sorted itself out. And admittedly, if it didn't, they still made a kickass team, working together. They understood each other on nearly everything, despite missing the incredibly obvious signs that the other was smitten. "Stick close to her," she told him. "Till all this is sorted. Gwen can take care of tons of people, but she needs somebody to make sure she's taking care of herself. Despite being older than me..."

He grinned slightly, ears flicking up. Then one drooped slightly. "Oh, uh, Risa. What was the deal with the people at breakfast? Did I miss something?"

Under no circumstances was she going to tell him that three days after he left, Gwen had blown up an abandoned fortress that had been overrun with orcs. Actually, he'd seen her do worse...

"Did Gwen blow something up?" he asked.

He knew her too well for his own good, clearly. "Yes. One idiot got scared of her and decided to hate her, so they got everyone else upset, and now they're being morons about her, and so she's been hiding this whole time. If I wasn't queen, I'd bash someone's face in, but I can't. It'd be an abuse of power..."

Risa caught the split-second expression on Koto's face and savored it. The look of 'I'm-going-to-slap-a-bitch' was one that definitely suited him. Talk about protective! She gave him a dismissing flick of her hand, swinging her feet off her papers. She could make K'thonya do them...although, the General had threatened to draw decapitated orcs in place of signatures if she had to do political paperwork again, so that probably wasn't a good idea. At least K'thonya was up-front about that stuff... And speaking of K'thonya, she really needed to find a way to ship that girl in a box to her would-be boyfriend, that dragon demon-thing what's-his-face, who she'd fallen so badly for despite only reaching like his waist. And she needed to get K'thonya's sister together with that healer- no, wait, those two already were together, now that she thought about it. Her youngest had walked in on them, hadn't she? Ugh, she needed to have padlocks installed on every single closet in the castle. She made notes of that before getting back to the stupid paperwork. Why did she care about the price of peas when war was probably coming soon and her best friend had turned into a hermit? Maybe she should mimic the humans and appoint some advisory people to handle this stuff...

Koto, meanwhile, had taken to the halls. He'd check up on Gwen when he guessed she was done - probably in around two hours, because that was about how long she tended to take on everything that involved books. For now, he'd check up on some of their group of friends and see what they said. He was going to find and beat the crap out of whatever idiot had decided to make everyone else treat Gwen horribly. And he was going to make it painful as hell. Protective? As far as he was concerned, this was old hat after decades of protecting his little sister from those who would use her.

His first visit was to the Infirmary, headed by a young naga-gorgon female. Graille was K'thonya's far less warlike half-sister (one of many) and was unfortunate enough to have to hop rather than walk or glide, thanks to the...unique structure of her legs and tail. She was exceptionally gifted with healing, able to revive someone at the brink of death, and, to most people, appeared extremely detached and unemotional. To her big sister's friends, however, it was safe to say that the youngster hero-worshipped them, even when she ordered them to not go wandering off in the middle of the woods without a weapon or she wouldn't heal their ribs again...even though she would. It was hard to tell, given that she was blessed with an incredibly grave voice - her laugh sounded a bit like a creaky door, as far as Koto was concerned - and a remarkably inexpressive face. K'thonya had been forced to confirm her sibling's attitude to her friends. The scarlet-skinned female was, no matter her problems with expression, always ready with help on just about anything, as long as she liked a person.

She was inside the Infirmary (he'd never dared to ask if she left, because he wasn't sure what to say if she didn't), finishing what looked like the latest in a long series of healings on Risa's young daughter. She'd probably smashed into a wall again, due to her inability to control her own motion. Koto watched with his usual fascination for magic - when you're surrounded by people who can do magic and aren't able to do any yourself (unless you do something you've vowed never to do and you won't do that), magic becomes even more awe-inspiring than before. He liked to watch Graille work. You could have blown the floor up underneath her, he suspected, and she'd never flinch, just spell a temporary floor into place and finish up her healing. Her sister shared that steadiness, which he had to admit to admiring even more than the magic. He got angry when he got scared, but K'thonya and Graille just rolled their eyes, never even phased. So someone was going to kill their queen? They'd tried that last week too, and it would be dealt with in a few minutes, with time enough to make sure the healers and the council didn't get themselves into trouble.

At last, she finished, and forced the child to down a sedative so it could finish, and made the awkward transition from sitting to standing. It always took an effort not to flinch. From her waist to slightly past her knees, she had a tail, which split off from her legs to become a dragged tail, and from that split to the floor, she had barely mobile legs. And she never accepted help, instead choosing to hop-shuffle along corridors and through rooms. As a healer, she could have changed the composition of that part of her body, but she never had, and he'd never had the guts to ask why. Some day he would, but today he had questions about the deal with Gwen. People didn't shut up around Graille because they never stopped to think she cared what they said, so long as it didn't have to do with the Infirmary or her sister. She was the physically and emotionally crippled little thing, after all, and didn't matter so long as she healed their paper cuts and scratches.

"Hey Graille," Koto greeted her.

Her smile was awkward - she always tried to hide her fangs, and he'd blame at least half of her expressive problems on that constant and futile attempt - but sweet. "Hey Koto." Her voice was probably lower than before, which wasn't surprising. It just seemed to get deeper the longer he knew her, and was another thing he didn't dare ask about. "What's up?"

"I just got back, figured I'd stop to say hi."

"And inquire about why your girlfriend's turned into a reclusive wreck?" She was quicker than she looked, of course. How else would a mere teenager be put in charge of the Royal Infirmary?

"She's not my girlfriend!" he immediately protested, ears flattening. "...but yeah."

She shook her head. "Some day, Queen Chandrisa will stuff the two of you in a closet and that will change...but for now, I've got answers on that." She made her way towards him with her stilted gait. "One of the elves on Her Majesty's council got uppity about how much power Gwen has. He picked up on how vulnerable she was, once you left - don't protest, it's true - and turned a demolition of an orc-overrun fortress into the demolition of a government stronghold on her own planet, so now everyone's terriffied she'll blow up the planet." To the point, as usual.

"That's so stupid."

"That's people," she said, and if she'd been any good with tone, he guessed she'd sound disgusted. It was hard to tell with her, though.

"What was the name?" he asked, after a moment.

"Kenlath Bindrabint," she informed him. "He likes to wear pink, and is the one most often pushing that Her Majesty's marriage be annulled because His Majesty was not born a dragon or an elf. He just wants to force himself on her. Typical political climber." She shook her head. "I need to go check on a dragon with heart problems in the other room. Welcome back." And then she was off, leaving him with the information, and wondering, yet again, why she wasn't promoted to spymaster or something. She basically lived in the Infirmary, but she knew everything and everyone- that should not be possible for a normal being. (He forgot about the existence of crystal balls and scrying, of course, but that was excusable, given how little he understood about magic).

He wandered off towards his second visit, K'thonya, and also braced himself for a tackle by the wild warrior. Half-gorgon, half-elf, K'thonya was devoted and steady to anyone she cared about. And in love with a demon on the other side of the world who she hadn't seen in around ten or more years, much to the chagrin of many a male. Of course, that demon had the advantage of not being involved in the petty power squabbles at the castle, which surely helped her esteem for him stay so powerful through the years. He couldn't imagine not having seen Gwen for years on end. Months had been bad enough. He wouldn't admit to it, but he'd have been coming back soon even had Draug not told him about the problem. He'd missed her so much. He couldn't imagine meeting her and facing the prospect of never seeing her again.

K'thonya was conducting a practice session with a group of young cadets, drilling them to make the sword an instinct. She was quite opposite from her half-sister, though they shared a height. Her dominant feature was not her green skin - in a land that was primarily populated by gorgons (as dragons and elves were a more imported type of species), weird skin colors were highly normal - but instead her enormous mane of snakes, which moved constantly. That was one thing he could never get used to - the moving and flickering tongues. They braided themselves, flipped around, and slunk about her head. She never noticed, but his eyes were always on those snakes. The longest was twined about her waist at that particular minute, and the shortest was trying to stretch over the top of her ear. Another difference was the sheer veil stretched across her eyes. Most gorgons had control over their ability to turn others to stone, but after the incident that required her demon love to be on the other side of the world, which had seriously impacted her, she had lost that ability, and so, wore a veil. Some were immune to this ability, and some could reverse it on their own - Gwen being a prime example of the latter.

He watched for quite a while before giving up on getting any time to talk to her right then. The two hours were wearing out, and he needed to go find Gwen. The walk to the library was quick, as he was focused on finding her. It was half empty, as per usual, bare of all but the usual regulars and a group of magic students cramming for upcoming midterms. Their studying consisted of throwing curses at each other, so Koto carefully avoided them. He obviously did not want his head transformed into a carrot, no matter how briefly.

Gwen was at the same place, in the back, and had evidently not thought to change. She'd taken over several tables, with them all shoved together. There was a haphazard arrangement of books and enormous amounts of paper, and he found himself reminded of finals during high school, walking into the house from football - which he'd done solely because he preferred that to the awkwardness of PE. The only thing he'd learned in PE was how to fall off ropes by virtue of girls in skimpy shorts stretching on the floor below. Thank goodness Ben had never told Gwen or Risa. He'd never have been able to look either of them in the eye.

"You okay, Gwen?" he asked, after a moment, taking a seat at the tables. Four of them, apparently.

She gave a distracted nod. "Sourcing some spells and legends about that thing. With any luck, I'll get some results."

"It's close to lunch," he said. "Er, do you want me to get you something?" He'd get to K'thonya there for a few minutes while he grabbed food for the two of them, then come back. "It's not like they care about food being in here," he added, as she tilted her head, pulled from her thoughts.

"Sure," she said, after a moment.

"And I know- as much meat as possible." She really liked beef and pork, and he vividly recalled staring blankly at her as she demolished a hamburger the size of her face, the first day he knew her. Gwen was a major carnivore, and rivalled her cousin on that. Her momentary grin confirmed that.

He threaded his way back out from the library and down to the Great Hall, already crowded, to retrieve some food, and (to his relief) spied K'thonya. He might have had to visit the army dining hall if she hadn't decided to take her lunch elsewhere. He wove his way over to her. "Hey, 'thonya!" he called, getting up to her side.

"Koto! Oh wow, when'd you get back?" She gave him a quick hug, careful not to rumple her veil.

"This morning," he said, grinning. "Who's Kenlath Bindrabit?"

She frowned. "Where'd you hear about him from?"

"Your sist- er, Graille." It was hard to resist saying 'your sister'. Then she'd ask which one and start listing them. Not exactly helpful.

"And this has to do with Gwen, of course," she said.

His ears flattened, then he remembered himself and tried to keep them upright and his tail normal. It didn't work out too well. K'thonya chuckled. "Of course it is," she said. "If you really want to deal with him - which, by the way, is a waste of time, and also, you'd better make sure it's way secret if you do anything, and don't tell me what - his rooms are in the Red Wing. I won't remember this, by the way." She ruffled his hair from her tiptoes, and meandered over to the highest table (lucnh was rather more formal than breakfast, at the palace, and dinner was of course, quite formal) to slide in place next to Risa. He waved briefly to Ben, who looked ready to pass out in his food, and began making his way out of the hall, reviewing what he knew of the Red Wing. Might have to do some research of his own this afternoon...


	5. In Which Shortness is a Factor

Chapter Five  
In Which Shortness Is A Factor

Human school was boring. Ina had adjusted well to it, considering the circumstances, and was intensely grateful that she lacked a roommate. The classes were tediously easy, she found, and so she sailed through with the bare minimum of effort. She saw Fade surprisingly little, for such a small school, because he was intensely focused on classes. She'd never noticed at the Academy, because she had hung with a different crowd, but he was very studious. So she found herself lonely, without someone to talk to. Her third day, she had chopped her long white hair and dyed it blonde, in order to stop the questions. One girl at the school had naturally pink hair, and another changed her hair color almost every day, but white hair, somehow, caused an incredible stir. Now she simply blended in among the other kids, with their friends, and she without. It was the first time since she'd started school that she hadn't had tons of friends. At the Academy, she had made herself popular with witty commentary and scathing gossip, but at Kadic, not only was she a nobody, she was an unsure nobody. And that made all the difference.

Fade, contrary to Ina, was thriving, despite - or perhaps because of - his roommate. Herve was a tall, geeky boy who had recently skipped a grade in order to graduate with his girlfriend. Some kids at school despised him fervently, including the other local genius, Jeremie, for either his intelligence or his ability to turn a situation to his advantage, but Herve had quickly become friends with Fade. They were evenly matched in disinterest in most people, and of a similar studious inclination. The only exceptions to Herve's social disinterest was his girlfriend, Sythandra Jones, and her step-sister, Naginata Tessen. With them, he was willingly social, and he had accepted Fade into that group. It left Ina all the more lonely, and ever more desperate to talk to Fade.

Standing in the breakfast line at the beginning of her third week, just after getting the _wonderful_ surprise of getting a roommate (and it was still a mystery how Elisabeth Delmas, the principal's daughter, managed to lose _her_ single), Ina witnessed a curious moment from a distance. Through the glass, she saw an unnaturally tall blonde woman talking to Naginata Tessen, the brunette giantess from the first day. Nagi towered over the woman as she did everyone else, but by very little, perhaps only a foot or two. Ina couldn't see enough of the woman to be sure, but she was definitely considering the possibility that it was Lucky, potentially. That's when she saw the blonde woman spin around and punch the thin air. A second later, she leaned down, picked something up that seemed to not be there, and then stalked off, leaving Naginata behind. Ina almost got out of line right then, but another exchange caught her ear.

"-something's up. First _them_, now _them_. We need to have an option."

"But we shut it down to end this stuff."

"Well, clearly this isn't related."

"So what are we supposed to do, sit around until it blows up in our faces? It hasn't happened yet, but what if it does?"

Ina knew them by sight. The group of five was extremely close knit, and comprised one senior, three juniors, and a sophomore who had apparently been held back. Two couples and a womanizer. Inseperable, except for classes. And they were suspicious of Fade and her, from the sound of it. How very...interesting. But Naginata and the potential Lucky were far more interesting. So she darted out of line, squeezed through a few people, and burst outside, straight into Naginata, who had evidently walked back. Her vision went blurry, as her head smashed right into the girl's pelvis, and she tumbled backwards.

"Are you okay?" Nagina immediately asked. She came slowly into focus for Ina, who rubbed her face in an attempt to restore vision.

"Sure," she said. "I somehow missed you there."

"I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to do that." She pulled Ina to her feet, steadying her. "Sorry, Ina. Hey, what'd you run out here for anyhow?"

"Oh, I thought I saw my friend, Lucky," Ina said, looking around, still dazed.

Nagina's hand contracted on her shoulder and Ina squirmed, feeling her skin bruising. At that moment, Fade walked out with Herve, chattering about something mathematical - and stopped dead. "Nagi, let Ina go," he growled.

Both girls looked at him, startled, but Nagi slowly released Ina's shoulder. "How do you know Lucky?" she asked.

"Lucky? She's here?" Fade demanded.

"I thought I saw her talking to her," Ina said, gesturing at Nagi. "When I came out, she was gone."

"How do you two know her?" Herve asked, sidling to the tall woman's side.

Fade slipped to Ina's side. "I'd be more inclined to ask how you two know her, actually," he said, monotone back for the first time in weeks.

It could have gotten ugly at that point, but then the lady in question strode up to them. She wore a black suit with red heels, and had hoisted something invisible over her shoulder, face quite put out. She squealed, dropped it, and swept Ina and Fade into her arms. "You guys! Oh my _god_ I've been so worried you should have let me fucking know!"

"Lucky, you're crushing us," Fade groaned. Ina looked ready to faint.

"Oh, right, sorry." She set them down, gently. "Oh, you've met Nagi and Herve? And Syth, I assume."

"...yeah," Ina said weakly, glancing at Nagi. "We've met."

Lucky leaned down to peer at Ina's face. "Face to crotch, it seems. Ouch. Where's Syth? I can't heal worth a damn, but she can."

"I think she's going to work on some of the poisons you asked her for," Herve stated, still watching the werewolves closely.

"Oh, good. I need more shit to try on Slade. It's not been working so far." She grabbed the still-invisible object off the ground. "First, I'll get this back to me 'n' Koru's place, so he can have the fun of handling it, then I'll get back to y'all. Hey, you two. Be in Syth and Nagi's room at like, midnight. Easier to talk then."

"After lights-out?" Ina asked.

"Yeah."

"Alright then, I guess." She leaned on Fade. "Can you take me to the nurse's? I'm so not going to class."

"Sure." He picked her up, instead of helping her shuffle along, and she heard Lucky squeal slightly. So everything was different; Lucky was still, at least, a sappy romantic, no matter her professed opinions on romance.

"Shut up, Lucky," Fade called over his shoulder, and Ina giggled. Things were looking up again, at least.

* * *

There...really isn't much to say about this chapter. It didn't work as a part of the next one, but wouldn't bloody expand to be longer. :| It annoyed me greatly, of course. OH WELL.


	6. Responsibility

I don't own like half this shit (okay, mostly, in this chapter, Fade, Koru and the school...) In other news, this is where Ina is serious and I was laughing in disbelief while writing... XD

* * *

Chapter Six

Responsibility

Ina padded over to the room the step-sisters occupied, and slipped in through the slightly open door, shutting it behind with a very soft click. The room was lit not by the harsh fluorescent lighting it suffered from during the day, but with soft balls of light. Syth was actually juggling a few of them. Without glancing at Ina, she said, "These are plastic balls filled with magic. Pretty useful."

"Oh. That's...impressive," she said, not sure what to say, and settled onto the floor, in a little alcove between one of the beds and a bookshelf. Nagi sat on the bed opposite Syth, one leg crossed on the bed, the other bent, arms wrapped around it. Herve perched next to Syth, and she couldn't quite see Fade.

"Fade already explained your deal," Syth added. "We're just waiting on Lucky or Koru now. Lucky's been running missions into Hell to sneak people out." Her voice was dreamy, or maybe that was just the atmosphere. Sure, Ina had lived in worlds full of magic, but in recent memory, her days had been filled with chattering and friends, and she'd always collapsed at night, exhausted. In even more recent memory, her days had been lonelier and too long, but still involved the nightly collapse. Well, except the full moon - but she'd manage to collapse the next day, always. But it was the middle of the night, and she was tired, in a room filled with fairy light. She could hear crickets outside, chirruping away, and felt transported to the world of a book. Only, if this were a book, she'd know for sure they'd win. If this were a book, she'd know that things would turn out. But sitting here at just past midnight, she didn't know any of that. She was still heartsick and lonely, unsure of herself.

"Hey, come out of that little corner," Fade said, suddenly looming over her. Before she could protest - though she wasn't sure she wanted to - he pulled her from it, and over to one of the desks. Half-reluctant, she took a perch on it, hugging her knees, and he sat next to her. She really needed to figure this out. All of this. She had to find a way to get rid of the Beast because like it or not, with her grandfather dead, she was Hell's ruler and they were her people. And no matter how much she didn't want the responsibility - didn't know how to handle it, even! - she had it, and she would see it through, somehow. And before that even got handled, she had to figure out what was up with her and Fade, because the dynamic had so suddenly changed. He wasn't sniping, she wasn't smacking his head into desks anymore. The incident with Slade in the infirmary had changed that, even though she supposedly hadn't been awake for it. Things changed so quickly, and it felt almost like she was left in the lurch.

She found herself startled from being half-asleep by a poke to her nose. Eyelids fluttered open to squint at the enormous face in her view; a curious looking Lucky. It was probably a good thing she didn't scream. Glancing over at the window, Ina spied Koru folding himself in, and was slightly amused to notice that they were matching, in black jumpsuits.

"I thought they only wore those things in movies," Syth said airily, as she shut the window behind them. Her hair bobbed, and Ina almost groaned as she realized the girl's hair was now polka-dotted. Seriously, how did she manage that! But there were more important things to think about than what color(s) Syth's hair was right then. Even if that was probably the weirdest and most fun mystery, it wasn't one that really mattered.

"So, who've you gotten out?" Fade asked, after a few seconds, once Lucky and Koru had decided the easiest way to fit into the room was to lie down on the floor.

"Mihi and Lindhal were the only ones in your form I could get. The upper forms all cleared out when the fighting started, except for those of us who were getting other people out. The younger forms also mostly got cleared out. Some of the Sins survived and aren't on Slade's side. Well, just Wrath and Osiris, really." She stretched a foot in the air, in place of her usual punctuating arm gestures. "Sloth and Lust got killed, Pride's disappeared, as far as we can tell, though Mihi swears she's seen her." A flick of her foot. "Most of the people who got out have wound up with Wrath and Osiris. Did you know they were together? Anyhow, yeah, they're running a resistance against Slade. And when I mentioned I knew where you were, they told me to tell you to stay put. They need you not dead for when they win."

"But...the Beast. They can't handle that, from what little Gwen was saying," Ina said. She didn't add that she didn't want her duty, because that was something she'd have to figure out on her own. Among other things. "And...it's...it's my responsibility."

"You're like, what, thirteen, or something? You shouldn't be bothering with responsibility," Lucky said. "And Gwen's that mage-y person who turns green and blows shit up, right? I'll go find her and figure out some way to blow this Beast up. If it can't be blown up, then I'll figure out how to shred it." She winked from the floor. "It's fucking dead once I get ahold of it, okay?"

"You're so overconfident, Lucky," Syth said. She was all seriousness now, and then, to Ina's astonished eyes, her hair shifted to a fairly...dull brown. "That won't work." She crouched, looking down on Lucky for one of the probably very few times she'd had a chance to. "Haven't you been listening to me?"

"Why does everyone else know more about this thing than I do?" Ina demanded. "I'm going to get the whole place dumped on me if we win! I'm going to be the ruler of it."

"Yeah, and you'll deal with it then," Lucky said from the floor. "What, you want it now?"

Forget the politeness, just forget it. Either she was the rightful ruler or not - they couldn't have it both ways and she wasn't going to let them do that. If she was getting this dumped on her when it was won, then she was going to be involved from now on in all of it. "Lucky," she said coolly. "I don't want to be a queen. But I am, anyhow, and if you expect me to get it later, then you'd better start recognizing that I _am_ the queen _right fucking now_." Lucky jerked upright, wide-eyed, and Ina found herself on the feet. "Like it or not," she snapped, "Those are _my_ people. They are _my_ responsibility." She didn't even know what she was feeling right now, but she was light-headed and even though she didn't know what the heaven she'd do with the responsibility she was claiming, she had to claim it. The one thing she had learned from Satan about ruling was that you couldn't let anyone push you around, no matter how much they meant to you. Lucky was her friend, and she admired her. But if she was to be queen, to take on that responsibility, and run a country, then she had to stand up to anyone who challenged her or tried to run her country for her. And that would have to start with the woman whose head was at her collarbone right now, looking stunned. Her voice strengthened. "I can't be queen in name only. I **won't** be. I will be involved, I will know what is going on." A deep breath. "I am the queen of Hell, and I _will be obeyed_." She grabbed a notebook from Nagi's desk - Syth's was probably poisoned or something, knowing that girl's chemical obsessions - and a pen. Flipping to a blank page, she started writing furiously in the sudden, slightly stunned silence.

After a few minutes, Fade gave a soft round of applause. "I get why your grandpa wanted you as heir now," he said.

"Don't remind me," was her sour reply. "I'm fifteen. I don't even want the job. But I got it, so I'm damn well going to be the one in charge. Queen Chandrisa has three councils of lords and ladies, and two councils of ordinary people, but at the end of the day, it's she who makes the decisions, not any of them. She takes some advice, ignores other pieces. But she isn't controlled. That's what's been going on with me, and I am _through_ with that." The pen tore a hole in the page. With a scowl at it, she had it fixed, and continued scribbling furiously.

"So what do you want me to be doing, then?" Lucky asked, very quietly, after a few more minutes.

"Continue with your currents missions, and whatever Wrath and Osiris are asking you to do, that you judge possible. I'm writing a letter to them to give me reports through you." She knew she needed to do that, from her time with Gwen and Crest. "I'll send any directions I have back through them. If you don't mind, I'd also like it if you would take another letter to Gwen. Gwendolyn Tennison, that is." She bit her lip. She was thinking of ordering around the most powerful known being? At least she probably wouldn't die for it, since Gwen liked her... Besides, it _was_ her territory they were planning on fighting in. She nearly dropped the pen, re-realizing that. It hadn't even been a half-hour since she'd woken up, and she'd already accepted that! She was out of her mind. Absolutely out of it. But things happened quickly. She was just adapting to them. So she was fifteen. Chandrisa had been ten when she'd taken the throne! And she'd let General K'thonya - only Private K'thonya back then! - be her regent (her fifteen year old regent!) until she was about eighteen. She didn't have that luxury, though, did she? The only politically savvy person she really knew was Fade, who was her age. All her friends - if they were still alive - had been socialites. Mihi, Jolie, and Gossamer were all social climbers, the kinds of girls destined to marry political men and never get involved in it themselves. She refocused back on the letter. If she thought about her closest friends, she was seriously going to start sobbing or something.

Rulers can't be distracted by their friends. They can have friends, but those people have to receive the same importance as everyone else. It was like an instinct telling her this, and though she didn't like it, she knew it was true. She rubbed her face and stared down at the letter to Wrath and Osiris. It was done, at least. She tore it out and folded it up, scribbling their name on. "Syth, I don't suppose you or Nagi have any random wax laying around," she said. She needed to seal it. Oh heavens, what was the seal for Hell? Actually, screw the official one. She was queen now, she was giving them a new seal. One that didn't involve fire and horns. That had to be bad for their international image, anyhow, not just ugly and tasteless. And she liked the idea of using Stone Circle. In the moments Syth was rummaging in her desk, Ina had taken an eraser from her pocket and with a little effort, shaped it to look like Stone Circle. Syth wordlessly placed a lump of wax next to her, and she took it. "Thanks, Syth." A claw sliced a piece off, and she heated it with a spell, dripped it on the fold of the paper, and smacked the former eraser into it. That done, she set the new seal next to the wax, and started on Gwen's letter, and then groaned. "I'll need to write one to Crest and Draug too, won't I?" she said.

"Well yeah. Being in charge is a lot of work," Fade said.

Ina stuck her tongue out at him. "So is being the only werewolf in the girl's dormitory. At least you got some sympathy if Slade got annoyed about bones on the carpet after the full moon." She didn't stop writing, at least. She knew what she needed to say to this one of her several quasi-mothers, at least.

"There weren't any other girl werewolves?"

"None. The only other not-full-demons were a few nekos, Gossamer the fairy, and a mermaid who was, I think, perpetually drunk," Ina said. "And a few humans."

"I was one of the humans," Lucky said. "And the mermaid was drunk. Only way she was able to live down there, I think. Shoulda just dropped out, really."

Ina shrugged, finishing up the admittedly short letter. All she wanted from Gwen was a willingness to send reports on what she knew to her, just as she was requesting from Wrath and Osiris. While Gwen was definitely working for the Dragon Realms and their government, Ina remembered from a class in law (her sixth period of the day while she had been at the Academy) that the ruler of an embattled region, under commonlaw (about twenty laws shared by most kingdoms), could request temporary service from the mages of his or her allies. She gave a quick mental thanks for Osiris, who had taught that class. He'd certainly be an adviser when this was over. She'd need the help. Or, what about...? Well, she'd think about that route later. Letter finished, she repeated the process she had for the first to seal it after scribbling Gwen's name, and set it on top of the first, starting work on the letter to Crest and Draug.

"So what exactly do you want to do from here, anyhow?" Fade asked.

She chewed on her lip. She really didn't know. Get reports, updates, maybe give a few suggestions? The only benefit to this seemed to be to her, really. It would took care of the loneliness and hours of nothing to do. On the other hand, she might be able to do a bit of coordinating between all of them... She had written, in Gwen's letter, about the fact there was a "rebel" force opposing Slade and his new pet. That could be helpful, if Gwen hadn't found it out already. She quickly added that information to the current letter, followed by another request for reports. Some things she thought important followed, and then she closed the letter. The same procedure was repeated a final time, and she slipped from the desk, pocketing the seal, and handing Syth the wax. Ina handed the letters to Lucky. "Wrath and Osiris, you know where they are. Gwen is probably in the library of the Dragon Realms, just look for a woman in pants that isn't in the army. And Crest and Draug are obviously in Lycanth. Thank you, Lucky."

"No problem," she said, with a grin. "C'mon, Koru." She tugged herself to her feet, abusing Nagi's (fortunately) bolted down, oversized bed, and shoved the window open again. She disappeared through, followed by Koru a second later. Syth shut it behind.

"You're just lucky she likes authority over there better than she likes it here," the normally hyper girl told her, settling down on her bed again.

Ina toyed briefly with the idea of a response, but 'fuck you' was too crude, and laughing was just sleep-deprived silliness. She settled for a cool gaze, before glancing at Fade and Herve. "I suggest we all go to bed now. I think Jim usually patrols around this time."

"She's right," Herve said. He pulled his girlfriend in for a hug, then a drawn out french kiss, while Nagi covered her eyes, and Fade and Ina crept into the hall. Oh, sure, they could have done the whole teleporting thing (or, as Ina had been calling it, after a long visit to the library, disapparating), but that would have taken the excitement out of it. Not that they _needed_ excitement, precisely, but there's something about being a teenager that makes it a bit...glamorous to sneak up and down dark hallways in fear of your safety that seems fairly universal among teens. If there wasn't, after all, how would horror movies have an audience?

The boys rooms were upstairs, and the room Ina shared with the despicable spoiled brat was close to them. As Fade was about to head upstairs, she changed her mind and followed him. He grinned at her recklessly, and passed by his room on the landing above, instead, leading up and out onto the roof. He sprawled on the ground, she sat next to him.

"It's so weird here," she whispered, after a moment.

"Yeah, it is. But you just have to deal with it and move on. Hell was weird for me too." He smirked at her. "Interesting to hear you swear, Miss Proper."

"You've never heard it before because you were never around me," she said with a half-smile. "I learned all my swears from Mihi."

"...so you really swear constantly?"

"Only when I'm seriously mad or around my friends. Or both...they do seem to go hand in hand, usually." She missed Mihi right now, and the pink insanity the other girl brought to her life. "Things change fast."

"You're telling me," was his comment. "So."

"Should I take that as a 'So what?', a 'So who gives a flying fuck?', a 'So please shut up now before I try ripping your throat out?'" Okay, cheap shot, using old comments from him...

"That was more of a 'So what was up with you in there?' but take it how you want, I guess..."

She glanced away. How could she even explain how she felt? At least, when she opened her mouth, the words slowly came. Late night confessions to Mihi had been more fun, but those weren't going to happen again for a long time. If ever. "I'm stuck with a job I didn't ask for." It was low, and sounded as resentful as she felt. "I hate power. I hate authority. I could've made prefect like instantly, but I screwed around because I didn't want it." She sighed softly. "I had enough of playing parent to grown adults - my father, I think, was four till the day he died, and Gwen is still a teenager, and probably always will be - that I don't want that as something I have to dedicate my life too." She gulped slightly; oh she hated this trap she was in. "But this, all of it, is my responsibility. I was made heir because I'm painfully good at this shit, and I have to follow through on it. I'm the fucking queen now, like it or not. I can't let them down. Any of them." Ina wanted to cry, sometimes, like now, but as usual, she held it in. One meltdown in front of Fade and his snarliness was bad enough. Two would have been terrible. Sure, he'd admitted, in a round-about way, to liking her, but...but she wasn't going to do that. She couldn't possibly have time for a relationship or even a mutually awkward likefest when she was trying to survive all this stuff.

"You don't like being in charge? Never would have guessed." It was infuriatingly impossible to tell when he was joking. Smug bastard too, no doubt.

"You and half the fucking universe," came her sour reply. "And my position is what brought that ass after me."

"And the possession of cleavage and a vagina, don't forget. Well...actually, if you'd been a guy, he'd've gone for you too, really."

She snorted. "Thanks." Glancing at the sky, she noticed it was marginally lighter. "We ought to go to bed..."

"We ought to. But I'm comfortable up here, and I'm willing to wipe the minds of anyone who catches us."

"What about Sissy?" More like; why was the idea of being alone with him freaking her out so much?

"Well...I do know how to plant fake memories if necessary. Or you could just tell her you got up way early and went ahead and took a shower and stuff, and she was too busy snoring to wake up to what noise you made."

"Oh, explain and insult her. That'd work."

"Your sarcastic tone isn't obviously sarcastic enough," he said.

She stuck her tongue out. She didn't have to be queenly all the time to have accepted responsibility, did she? And she didn't have to have accepted it for the long term...but she should have a while to decide that.


	7. moar kissing nao plz

Chapter Seven

moar kissing nao plz?

It was early morning when Mihi crept from her cot. The pink haired demon rubbed her shoulder with a grimace. Even though it had been healed when she arrived at the camp, it hadn't exactly set right. Too many healings, she supposed. After a while, immunity kicks in.

She couldn't stay in that little tent, just couldn't. She would start sleeping, and all of a sudden she would recall Gossamer's face as a wing was ripped from her body. Her two former teachers, now her commanders, had noticed changes in her, not just her new pre-dawn rising. Mihi, long known for ogling boys, was oblivious to their existence as potential lovers.

As the camp came to life, Mihi had already eaten and moved onto working. She sat in front of a mirror, scrying. While anyone watching her would simply see her reflection, she saw nearly unspeakable images. Of course, they wouldn't protect their torture from being scryed. Not for the first time, she wanted to wring Slade's scrawny neck.

It didn't take long for her to be unable to watch, and she fled the mirror for somewhere open, and just laid there.

At some point, Lucky joined her. The two stayed there in silence for a while.

"What's got you so upset?" Lucky asked.

Mihi was not known for crying. She was the girl who screamed swearwords at the slightest provocation. But her eyes watered as she said, "I don't wanna talk about it."

"You need to," the woman pointed out.

"But-"

"No buts. You need to tell someone, because it's obviously eating you up inside."

The demon's shoulders slumped. "Gossamer," she whispered. "She's still with them."

"Not for long, I think." Lucky frowned. "We'll see who I get this next time."

"She's one of my best friends," she whispered.

Lucky raised her eyebrows.

"...I might have...you know...a thing for her..." She cast her eyes away. "They ripped one of her wings out," she whispered. "Right in front of me. I couldn't do anything." And suddenly she was screaming. "I fucking hate Pride! That- that _bitch_- I swear to anything, I will end her!"

"Then I'd suggest studying up on some spells that induce instant death." The tall woman raked an eye over her. "Sides, you two share an elemental affiliation, and yours is stronger. Overpower her with it, when you manage to get to her."

Mihi's mouth opened and closed. Then she grinned lopsidedly. "I'll make sure she can't do anything else," she promised.

Being tortured leaves an unshakeable print on someone. They look haunted, their physical nature has changed, their mental state is, well, unstable. They have seemingly irrational fears. Their abilities have changed.

When Lucky managed to return with the little pink fairy, Gossamer lacked all of her wings. Mihi helped to wrap her back in bandages, silently raging. Afterwards, she wrapped an arm around Goss's shoulders and pulled her tight. They cried together, on the infirmary tent's cot, silent but for occasional gasps.

Gossamer, like Mihi, couldn't stand the enclosed tents at night. Too cell-like, like the former dormitories they had been imprisoned in. Finally, they just resolved to sleep outside. Others who had been rescued by Lucky followed suit.

The two wouldn't leave each other's side. Paranoia, perhaps. But rational, nonetheless. Gossamer was there to stop Mihi from attacking the guy who liked to whistle. Mihi was there to stop Gossamer from attacking the woman who looked exactly like Avarice. Mostly, though, they were finding spells. Both were exceptionally good with magic, and in each other's company, their abilities further expanded, especially with their sudden drive to further them. Both had claimed a Sin they planned on destroying. Pride, of course, was Mihi's target, while Gossamer's was Envy.

Their opportunity to test these out came with an attack plan by Wrath and Osiris. Both girls immediately volunteered to take part in the sneak attack force led by Osiris, rather than the group luring Slade's main force out.

Both were selected.

* * *

Dis had changed in the several months that it had been ruled by Slade. Streets were bleak, guarded by his little monstruous creations. Ordinary guards would have been too much trouble, as they would have disobeyed or he would have had a grudge towards them.

It was lucky that the monsters couldn't sense invisibility spells, such as the one that the Avarice lookalike was providing.

Lucky was the one who smashed the wards. Literally, in fact, with a spelled hammer. It was a choice no one had wanted to comment on, really.

Most of the force loyal to Slade - most had been threatened into it, honestly - were out responding to Wrath's lure. They were mostly undisturbed as they went about systematically breaking people out. Mihi and Gossamer found Kamen and Lindhal, and several others they knew, but not Jolie or Chaud. Lucky chose not to tell them about the room of dead bodies she found, which contained the two, thrown like ragdolls atop a pile.

They went unmolested until the two staying Sins found them. Lucky found herself fighting Pride, Osiris found himself fending off Envy.

The two younger demons looked at each other. The practices (done on bugs, always) of spells for death flashed through their minds. Who knew if they were even capable of ending the lives of these two? They had been confident for quite a while beforehand, but now, nerves set in.

But then Gossamer narrowed her eyes, stepped forward, and cast it. It suddenly went quiet, and a look of faint surprise crossed Envy's face as she crumpled in a sudden boneless heap. She died there swiftly. Mihi took a deep breath as she too cast. Pride survived a moment or two longer, as blood suddenly gushed forth from her body.

In the suddenly bloody hallway, Mihi and Gossamer looked at each other. Right then and there, Mihi grabbed Gossamer and just kissed her. It was brief, it was sudden, and it was rudely interrupted.

"It's nice that you two are happy again, but might I suggest holding the makeouts till we're back at camp?" It was Osiris, of course, and the two separated, red.

* * *

Wrath eyed the approaching column through her spyglass, a satisfied grin on her face. "Someone remind me to thank Osiris for remembering this place."

"How d'you want to thank him?" Koru asked, curious.

"In bed. What do you think?" She glanced over to see the normally unflappable man turning red. "Oh come on! It's not like we've ever been a secret." His ears were red too, she observed. "Is this because you're wondering if you should be thanking Lucky in bed?" she asked, smirking. "And your hair doesn't flatter your face right now, Koru."

One of the demons standing nearby clapped a hand to her mouth to stifle her giggles, as Koru somehow, impossibly, grew even more red.

"They're close enough we can set the wards up," she added to the small group of mages around her. A breath came out in a whoosh. "Welcome to the first battle," she added. "I can already tell you it ain't going to be the last."

The mages, which included several full and part demons, as well as one extravagantly curly haired human, joined hands. Most spells required nothing physical, but group spells absolutely necessitated physical contact between the casters. For wards, even more was required - blood had to be shed. Unlike the powerful bloodmagic, where one loosed their own blood, group wards needed the two main casters to, as the spell concluded, cut the arm of the other open. At least there were healing spells... Needless to say, wards were dangerous spells.

Wrath tuned out their spell as she focused on keeping a masking spell over it, thanking everything that existed that it was Gluttony leading this force, and that Envy wasn't attached. Of all the Sins, Envy was the most adept with magic, and would have sensed the wards through the masking spell. Wrath was good enough to best Gluttony and Pride at magic, and to hold her own with all the others, but she knew full well that she couldn't have handled the harpy woman. There were other people handling her, anyhow. What Wrath excelled at was war. Not weapons, like Pride, but war- the logistics, the planning. She had an ineffable instinct for how to strike, and what to do with people. It had served her well, over the centuries.

"Ready?" she asked the casters, as she smelled blood. At their chorused 'yes', she loosed the masking spell that had contained it, and felt the spells spring up all around. A smile settled across her face.

Two hours of fighting later, Wrath ducked and rolled away from Gluttony. She sprang back to her feet in time to block a blow that might have taken her head, silently thanking Osiris - not for the first time - for the metal plates sewn into her gloves. Her sword was buried in some demon yards away, and her main opponent was the pink haired demon. She wasn't sure how she'd wound up in the battle, rather than directing it, but contemplating that would have been too distracting for the present situation.

At some point, she'd found herself having to rescue a pair of demons encircled by some of Gluttony's fighters. One had been wounded and couldn't stand. In a brief lull, she healed his shoulder, before throwing herself back into it.

When people speak of battle, they pretend it to be clear, that one is always aware of what is occurring. That only holds true when one is an observer, able to survey the entire site, or in charge, knowing exactly what is happening. When you get in the thick of it, there isn't time to think, nor are there eyes enough to be aware of everything that happens. It's just you, your weapon, your next opponent, and a hell of a lot of adrenaline. Quite frankly, it's absolutely terrifying, except that if you get scared, you're dead.

But battles do inevitably wind down, as people retreat to the sidelines, to heal, gasp for air, or remove the dead they can. Fights between two people have been known to suddenly become the entire battle, when the rest cannot even muster the energy to continue. That happened at some point in the midst of this battle. Not that Gluttony or Wrath noticed, since they were too focused on not dying.

It was a classic case of two swords versus one, once the smaller acquired a pair laying on the ground, during a lucky roll away from the other demon. Wrath used her pair with precision, while Gluttony swung hers with wild abandon, which certainly made it a bit harder for the smaller demon to get to her. For a moment, they broke, panting, glaring. Then they were back at it, swinging, pivoting, practically dancing.

When Wrath managed to land one of her swords in Gluttony's shoulder, the other demon apparently decided that this battle was finished. The wards, which had prevented anyone from escaping by disappearing elsewhere, had fallen quite a while before, and the demon waved her sword, a signal of retreat, to her remaining force, as she herself disappeared.

Wrath wasn't sure if she should be laughing or swearing. "I guess we won the first battle," she told Koru, as she walked to him.

"Yeah..." He cast a glance over the field. "That trick won't work again, though."

"I've got several centuries worth of tricks," she told him. "I _am_ the oldest of all the Sins."

"I look forward to seeing them," he replied.

She turned to the field, and with he rest of the mages, set it ablaze. Better to burn the bodies than let any necromancer Slade might have on his side get to the bodies.

* * *

When Wrath's fighters returned to camp, Osiris' had been there a few hours. Of course, the first sight any of the returning people stumbled upon was Gossamer and Mihi fast asleep in the sun, with some amused demons watching.

"What's so funny?" Wrath asked one of them, who she vaguely remembered from years past.

"Those two," he said, gesturing at them. "Killed Pride and Envy and then made out."

Wrath shook her head, grinning. "Knew I liked them for a reason." She patted his shoulder, and went to find Osiris. She had _questions_. Well, questions and then they'd get to more diverting things.

People drifted apart, to do what they needed, and Koru went to find Lucky, guessing she'd be back on Earth, at the apartment they'd got. Of course, he was correct. She lay sprawled on the couch, staring holes in the wall. He sat next to her, waiting for the explosion. Lucky, after all, wasn't good at hiding her emotions. She burst out with the first thing on her mind in any awkward silence, couldn't win at poker to save her life (poker faces were beyond her ability), and thought of consequences to her words only later. It was a complete contrast to how he was. Koru kept his emotions close, and usually communicated primarily by his behavior. He wasn't good at reading people's emotions, but he was good at predicting actions. In his head, he counted to the explosion of what was bothering her. _10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2-_

"What the fuck is wrong with people?" she snarled.

"With which 'people' specifically?"

She flailed her hands. "People people!"

His eyebrows raised. "In what sense are we talking about?"

"You didn't see the bodies I found," she snapped. "Chaud and his girlfriend in a fucking bin, dead." His lips thinned, and he pulled her upright, into a hug, letting her continue her tirade into his shoulder. "I mean, really? How can anyone want power so badly they kill a kid off for being friends with someone they hate? What possesses someone to act like that little asswipe?" She pulled away, to her feet, to pace. "I kill for money, not pleasure. It doesn't make me gleeful to kill some guy in Switzerland unless he's a rapist or something, but I only do it for money. It just...making it personal." She whirled, and Koru ducked beneath her braid.

"Lucky, your braid," he said.

"Wha- Oh." She flushed, and sat down to begin unbraiding it. "Sorry." Her fingers were good at handling it, and quickly the chain was piling on the floor. "Pride and Envy enjoyed it. They were proud of the torture they had done. I make it quick, no torture. I can't comprehend the drawn out murder of these people. It's- it's awful, goddamnit!" She unlaced the headband that kept the chain in her hair, and dropped it to the floor, leaping to her feet to pace again, her wavy mane swishing behind. "Koru, I don't get what's wrong with people."

"No one does, Luck," he said. "We just do what we can to help people, and stop the really bad guys." He plopped onto the sofa. "You answered yourself, a bit. Slade acts the way he does because he _is_ possessed. By greed, by power, by the thrill of being in control. He gets a sick rush out of it." His shoulders raised in a shrug. "I don't understand what about it thrills people. I just know that it does."

She dropped next to him, ignoring the groan of the couch. Two seven-footers were not meant for ordinary furniture, after all. "It's just weird, thinking that we aren't going to see Chaud's gay-ass wings again," she said. "And it's fucked up to realize that a kid who only reaches my boobs is the one doing all this. And I'm pissed about this whole shit, and Syth and Ina sniping at each other and just everything."

"Are you pissed at me?" he asked, slightly curious.

"No," she said, and buried her head in his shoulder. "Not right now, anyhow."

They sat there in silence for a while, till she pulled away. "I need to go...let Ina know. About Jolie."

"I'll make dinner, and we can go over some plans K'thonya and Crest came up with," he said, and waved to her as she disappeared. Once she was gone, his shoulders slumped. "I'd better not die anytime soon," he told the air, "Or Chaud's going to kill me again for not figuring out some way to tell her." He stared at the wall, considering. "I wonder what happens if you get killed when you're already dead..."


	8. Edge of Glory

Yeah, another one of these. I've got a couple CMTBF chapters floating around that I need to clean up, and a couple SotL oneshots that also need to be checked over. And I guess I'll get some images done for all my stories... Also need to draw a picture for a friend's birthday, to accompany another friend's fic gift for it. And I need to watch/read like thirty-billion different series... But I'm a high school graduate now... Means I need to get my butt in gear and finish this beast before college... Yeah.

The Code Lyoko peeps and various stories referenced in this are not my property, obvs.

* * *

Chapter Eight

Edge of Glory

What is love? That's the question that the literature class was writing an essay on, one day. They had just wrapped up a unit that included _Romeo & Juliet_, _Much Ado About Nothing_, _Pride and Prejudice_, and (rather absurdly) _Grease_.

In the fourth row, window side, a slender girl with pink eyes and blonde hair stared out the window, paper untouched. Things other than Juliet's soliloquys and Beatrice and Benedick's _stychomythia_ were running through her mind, and frankly, they were rather more important. She'd been in a haze since Lucky, a week ago, had informed her that her friend Jolie was dead. She needed to speak with Fade about...well, about a lot of things. Not that she'd had a chance to, for quite a while. He didn't even know Jolie was dead, that's how little contact they'd had lately.

She tore her eyes from the window, suppressing a sigh. Whatever had possessed Gwen to dump her in a school on Earth, she still didn't know. It was so stupid, when she might have been accomplishing something besides a three page essay on love. Like she understood it that well, when she was only a week from sixteen. Still, she might as well write the stupid thing, since she couldn't leave till the class was done.

_What is love? To Shakespeare and Austen, it was either instant (and sometimes fatal) attraction, a bartering chip to further oneself, while to the writer of _Grease_, it was instant attraction that required someone to change themselves._ She frowned down at the paper, wondering what to put next, before deciding that since her actual grade didn't matter, she might as well write whatever she thought, whether or not it made sense. _I have known many people who were in love in my life. Most often, they are not brought together by some instant, shallow attraction based on the physical shell. They are not usually rivals. They do not change themselves, or change the object of their affection. They are friends before they are lovers. Where Beatrice and Benedick snipe at each other over his bravery or lack thereof, Lucky and Koru (two of my friends), wrestle each other for the last slice of pizza, and complain about work. Love is not an extraordinary, pre-destined thing that cannot be stopped. Love is trust. Love is the knowledge you can run into a fight and someone has your back, the choice to believe what someone tells you, and the hope and will for a change._ She scowled slightly at the requirement to cite portions of the texts and movie, and moved onto the body. Stupid teachers. The last thing she wanted to do was write about love.

Twenty minutes before the end of class, time was called, essays were collected, and the teacher perched on the edge of the desk, grinning. "Now," he said, "let's hear your theses."

People went, reluctantly, as he called them. One girl said, "Love is the instant attraction that binds two people together for life, the feeling that nothing and no one else is necessary for happiness, and the need for someone that overcomes all obstacles."

Ina bit back a groan when it was her turn, and rattled hers off. "Love is the knowledge you can run into a fight and someone has your back, the choice to believe what someone tells you, and the hope and will for a change." She ignored a few scandalized looks from other girls over how 'un-romantic' it was, instead turning to look out the window again. As the teacher talked about something that seemed to be about arguments for and against predestination, she watched Yumi Ishiyama and Ulrich Stern talking beneath a tree. They were like Lucky and Koru, she'd noticed. Always arguing, never giving in to the obvious chemistry between them (except when they did, by 'accident'), and always together. As she watched, Ulrich checked to see if anyone was watching in the courtyard, obviously forgetting people could see through the windows, and leaned down to kiss Yumi before grabbing his bag and walking off to the cafeteria. The older girl stayed in place for a moment, then grinned, grabbed her own bag, and headed out of the courtyard towards the gate.

She sighed slightly, returning her attention to the teacher, who was assigning homework now, wishing she still had some classes with Fade, or at least someone who wasn't insufferably clueless. Mihi, Goss, and Jolie had been incredibly silly and disinterested in schoolwork, but they were still intelligent, and she missed them more than ever now that Fade was in some stupid 'advanced' classes. She'd admit she missed him, smartass that he was, if only because he was the only person she actually knew. Herve, Syth, and Nagi were okay, but mostly, she couldn't hang out with them. Nor did she really want to. Though Fade had started to hang out around Ulrich Stern relatively recently, she'd noticed, as she watched the courtyard any time she was in class. Usually, they didn't seem to talk, just sitting together.

When class let out for lunch, she went alone, as was now usual, to the cafeteria. For the first time in a while, Fade was actually there when she was, so she skipped the line and sat next to him. "Hey."

"Hey," he said, looking up from his books at her. "Where've you been?"

"The same classes you used to be in," she replied. "Have you heard from Lucky or Koru recently?"

"How recently is recently?" he asked.

"In the past week."

"No. What happened?"

"They raided Dis and fended off Gluttony's army. Pride and Envy are dead, but so are Jolie, Chaud, and quite a few other people." Her lips twitched downwards. "Lucky told me about it last week, but I haven't seen you since before I saw her."

"What wonderful stuff we're missing," he muttered. "Our schedules do conflict a lot now, don't they?"

"Too much," she sighed.

"You seriously haven't made any friends here?"

"Fade, think real hard about what's been going on. I've got a dead grandfather and a dead best friend. Think I'm great company right now?" If she was a bit sharper than she intended, she didn't care. "I'm not like you or like Lindhal or Envy. I can't bottle up everything I feel and pretend I don't care and move on with my life." She tugged at her hair. "I figured you should know, anyhow," she muttered, and went to stand in line.

He, to his surprise, stood and went after her. "What's your next class again?" he asked her.

"History. Why?"

"Anything you actually care about there?" he asked.

"No..."

"Skip it. I'll mess with the nurse's memory later."

"Don't you have a class next?" she asked.

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter." Okay, he was definitely acting weird, he decided, but the slight grin he got from her was worth it.

"Fine."

They went up on the roof again, because no one ever really looked there. The silence was surprisingly comfortable, as he sat staring at the sky, and she lay staring at the ground, her paper still churning in her mind, Jolie in her thoughts.

Eventually, one of them spoke. Comfort and surety were overrated. Ina rolled over to her stomach. "We're almost as bad as Lucky and Koru," she sighed.

"...what?"

"I lied, back at the infirmary at the Academy," she told him. "I heard everything from when Slade came in."

"Oh." He was frustratingly impossible to read.

She looked down at the oh-so-fascinating concrete, wondering what else she could say to express what she meant.

"Why did you lie?"

"Because I didn't know how to say anything without it being awkward. Or having you like, attack me."

"I wouldn't have."

"You did practically growl at me. And you had been begging to fight me earlier, so it seemed logical. Plus, we were _there_ because of a fight." She pulled on her hair, craning her head back, training her eyes on the sky.

"So you think we're like Lucky and Koru."

"Yes. Except...hopefully we're not that frightened of..." She wasn't sure how to finish that.

"Of admitting things," he said for her. She nodded, noticing how he'd come closer.

"This is hardly a great time to say anything about it," he said.

"I know."

"If we're like Lucky and Koru, that implies something on both sides." He seemed to be having trouble with controlling his voice, not that she was in a state to notice.

"Well, there is. Unless you've changed a lot since then." She bit her lip as she sat up to look at him for the first time.

"I haven't." He was literally next to her.

"Then..." she trailed off. He didn't try to finish it for her. She extended her hand. He took it, rose to his feet, pulled her with him, surprisingly gentle. They stood there for what seemed like an eternity, hands locked to each other.

"We're going to get pulled all the way into the fight eventually," he warned. "We'll run the risk of going the way of Jolie and Chaud."

"I know." She didn't look away from him. "Things are going to get complicated if we win."

"I know." Their eyes were still locked, and they'd probably both forgotten how to blink. "Teenage relationships have an average lifespan of three months."

"That's longer than adult marriages," she said. "This will make you an even bigger target for Slade."

He looked like a wolf when he grinned. "Bring it on." He extended his other hand, and she took it. "We're not exactly Lucky and Koru any longer."

"Then who are we?"

"Us. I hope." And he pulled her to him and kissed her.

Now how many people can say they got their first kiss on a rooftop on another world?


End file.
